COMMENTARY
It’s time for R.I. to reduce litter and reform the way the Ocean State recycles
A bottle bill is not only good for the environment, it’s good for business, proponents of House bill 6207 write
April 18, 2025, 6:00 a.m.
As representatives of the business and environmental sectors, we have come together to urge the Legislature to take bold action to greatly improve the state’s recycling results. House bill 6207 includes proven policy solutions that will benefit Rhode Island’s environment and economy.
Rhode Islanders are facing mounting environmental crises: the growing amount of litter is jeopardizing our tourism and natural beauty, and there is a limited amount of room in the state’s only landfill.
The recycling rate in Rhode Island is only 26 percent. Local governments bear most of the costs to manage these underperforming programs despite limited budgets, competing priorities, and no impact on the types or amounts of packaging produced. For example, 27 municipalities collectively pay $15.6 million per year to collect recyclables.
The same poll also found widespread concern (85 percent) about the litter and waste on Rhode Island shorelines and in the ocean, with 65 percent saying it is of “great concern.” In the fall of 2023 alone, Save the Bay collected more than 135,000 pieces of trash, and the Rhode Island Department of Transportation spends $800,000 annually on litter cleanup along roadways.
While the Legislature has debated recycling improvements for years, the need has never been greater. Rhode Island can learn from, and leapfrog, other states by adopting House bill 6207. There is a verified solution to reduce litter and modernize recycling, while saving taxpayer dollars: implementing both Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging and paper products as well as a bottle bill (also known as a Deposit Return System or Recycling Refund) for beverage containers.
EPR is a policy that holds producers — like consumer brands companies — accountable for the entire lifecycle of their products, largely by shifting the cost of recycling programs from municipalities to producers.
A bottle bill adds a refundable deposit on beverage containers when purchased. This incentivizes consumers to return empty containers in exchange for a refund and keep them out of the waste stream. Once returned, containers are recycled or reused. After hearing arguments from both sides, Rhode Islanders by a 27-point margin (58 percent to 31 percent) support a bottle bill, according to the poll. It’s also popular in the 10 states that have a bottle bill with 90 percent of citizens in those states supporting it.
Well-designed, modern bottle bill programs reduce litter and consistently achieve beverage container recycling rates of 90 percent and above. Modern bottle bills utilize technology like reverse vending machines and bag drop points to enable consumers to redeem in seconds at many types of locations like unused parking spaces. Rhode Island and New Hampshire are the only states in New England without a bottle bill. The rest of the region produces higher quality material that is more capable of being recycled and used for new packaging.
As representatives of businesses and Rhode Island-based environmental advocacy organizations, we have come together to advocate for House bill 6207, which jointly implements EPR for packaging and paper products and a bottle bill. It’s good for business since it creates more resilient, domestic supply chains and enables the creation of new products with high quality, recycled material. It’s good for the environment since it reduces litter, which is paramount to protecting Rhode Island’s natural resources and beauty, and it reduces the need for raw materials, leading to lower carbon emissions.
Rhode Island can show the nation that the Ocean State is a leader in smarter, more effective recycling solutions that benefit both the environment and the economy.
Steve Alexander is CEO at Association of Plastic Recyclers, Scott Breen is senior vice president of sustainability at Can Manufacturers Institute, Scott DeFife is president at Glass Packaging Institute, Emily Howe is Rhode Island state director at Clean Water Action, and Jed Thorp is director of advocacy at Save the Bay.