County Legislature says ‘Bottle Bill’ could hurt municipal recycling efforts
ALBION – The Orleans County Legislature has opposed the state’s push to expand the “Bottle Bill” which would add a deposit to sports drinks, energy drinks, fruit and vegetable beverages, and ready-to-drink coffees and teas.
County legislators on Wednesday said that expansion would likely hurt the recycling program which is picked up weekly through the garbage collection program.
Legislators said the county’s recycling program has already been hurt “by global recycling volatility and policy changes implemented principally by China, resulting over the last two years in a 90% reduction in the value of paper and a 63% loss in value of the traditional recycling stream.”
The expanded Bottle Bill could remove as much as 50 percent of valuable plastic and aluminum containers from the recycling stream, legislators said.
Instead of the expanded Bottle Bill, the County Legislature urged Gov. Cuomo and the State Legislature to add a deposit for additional glass beverage containers, including wine and liquor bottles, hard cider bottles, and non-alcoholic class beverage containers.
Those items cause problems in the recycling stream due to breakage and contamination of other recyclables, county legislators said.
