Senate Leader’s Bottle Recycling Bill Clears Committee

Wednesday, April 20, 2022

 

SACRAMENTO – Legislation written by Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins, D-San Diego, and Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, to add wine and distilled spirits bottles to California’s recycling program cleared a key committee hurdle today.

“With this bill we can increase the recycling rates of millions of bottles that would otherwise wind up in our landfills or be illegally discarded,” Sen. Dodd said. “It’s a win for the environment and a win for consumers. I commend Sen. Atkins for her partnership on this commonsense measure and look forward to the many benefits for our state.”

“I want to thank members of Environmental Quality Committee for passing this important bill, which will help Californians recycle wine and liquor bottles,” said Sen. Atkins. “I particularly want to thank Sen. Dodd for co-authoring this bill – as important as it will be statewide in helping remove tens of thousands of bottles from California’s waste stream, it will also be a great benefit to Sen. Dodd’s district, where wine is a cornerstone of the local economy.”

The California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act, established in 1986, encourages consumers to recycle beverage containers by requiring them to pay a deposit for eligible bottles. According to a 2019 report, curbside programs received approximately $172 million from the so-called Bottle Bill in 2017, including $15 million that is annually provided from the Beverage Container Recycling Fund.

Although the program includes beer, it does not include wine or spirits. It is estimated that California generates more than 500 million wine and spirits bottles each year, with less than 30% being recycled and over 300 million wine and spirits bottles going into landfills. Under Senate Bill 1013, wine and spirits bottles would be added to the program, leading to more recycling, increased business for recycling centers and reduced processing costs. The expansion would also cut greenhouse gas emissions by almost 200,000 tons of carbon dioxide while reducing litter of wine and spirits containers, a visible and dangerous component of urban litter pollution.

SB1013 is supported by a number of groups including Californians Against Waste, Heal the Bay, California Association of Local Conservation Corps, Monterey Regional Waste Management District, National Stewardship Action Council, Northern California Recycling Association, California Teamsters Public Affairs Council, The 5 Gyres Institute, the Plastic Pollution Coalition and Zero Waste USA. It has no formal opposition.

It passed the Senate Environmental Quality committee today with bipartisan support.

 

###

Senator Bill Dodd represents the 3rd Senate District, which includes all or portions of Napa, Solano, Yolo, Sonoma, Contra Costa, and Sacramento counties. You can learn more about the district and Senator Dodd at www.sen.ca.gov/dodd.