The New York state Legislature will hold a hearing Monday on potentially expanding the state's bottle deposit law.
State Assembly and Senate Environmental Conservation committee chairs Pete Harckham and Deborah Glick will take testimony to examine legislative solutions to increase the effectiveness of the Bottle Bill.
The current bottle law offering a deposit of 5 cents was first enacted in 1983. Supporters have touted its success as recycling rose following the measure's passage, with states more likely to reduce plastic waste that have such laws in place. Besides the addition of certain water bottle products in 2009, the Bottle Bill has remained generally unchanged since then.
Advocates and lawmakers this year pushed for changes that would allow for more types of beverage containers to be covered, such as wine and liquor, and to increase the amount of the deposit from 5 cents to 10 cents. The latest version was referred to the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee.