ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The state plans to start cleaning up the trash that piled up over the winter on the Inner Loop and highways in two weeks. But for a longer solution, the state is considering increasing the bottle deposit from 5 cents to a dime and expanding the number of bottles that qualify.

Chief Investigative Reporter Berkeley Brean found a glass bottle in the Inner Loop that currently cannot be returned for a deposit. However, there is a push to expand the bottle law which cut down on litter when it started 43 years ago.

David Masur, Executive Director of PennEnvironment, suggests raising the deposit rate could incentivize recycling.

“Maybe if New York raised the rates and you could get a quarter, someone would come along and take it to get it recycled because it has a greater value,” Masur said.

A bill in the Senate and Assembly proposes raising the deposit to a dime, as it has been 5 cents since 1982.

“A nickel in 1982 is not worth a nickel in 2025,” said Blair Horner, who runs the New York Public Interest Research Group in Albany.

The expanded bottle bill includes sports drinks, iced tea, wine and liquor. Horner says in other states that have moved to a dime deposit, up to 90% of containers are redeemed, resulting in less litter and less garbage going to landfills.

If the bill passes, it would include the bottle Masur picked up in the Inner Loop which currently lists deposit values for California, Hawaii, Maine and Oregon but not New York.

“So there are things we can do to create better and stronger laws that incentivize people to recycle more, throw away less and get the business community to think about how can they give us less stuff that we’re then saddled with,” Masur said.

When bottles with a 5 cent deposit are purchased, the nickel goes to the companies. When the bottle is returned, the customer gets a nickel and the companies give the nickel back to the store. But if the bottle is never returned, the company keeps one penny and four pennies go to New York state.

“Well 80% of the revenue from unredeemed deposits go back to the state,” Horner said.

If the deposit is raised to 10 cents and the bottle isn’t returned, the state would get 8 cents based on the current 80% calculation.

“Based on our calculations that could be as much as a $100 million in revenue to the state,” Horner said. “In a state that is going to be looking for revenue this is one way to enhance it and invest some of that money into making the program work even better.”

When the bottle deposit law started 43 years ago, the state Department of Environmental Conservation said it reduced the amount of litter and garbage by 70%.

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