Michigan’s Bottle Deposit Law May Include Water

In 1976 Michigan voters passed the Michigan Bottle Deposit Law imposing a ten cent deposit on all soft drinks, beer, wine coolers and malt beverage containers.  Stat’s show that Michiganders return 97 percent of the containers they pay a deposit on.  The Michigan United Conservation Club predicts that non-carbonated drinks such as Water and Juice will exceed soft drink sales within a few years.

The group is asking Michigan Legislation to vote on including water and juice bottles in the current Michigan Bottle Law by the end of the month.  11 other states are seeking similar expansions to current bottle laws. The facts that have been brought forth are that only 20 percent of bottled water containers are being recycled because no deposit is required. Americans buy about 28 billion bottles of water a year, 80% end up in landfills.

Most grocery stores have successfully lobbied against expanding the Michigan Bottle Law to include water bottles.  Living on a corner I can’t tell you how many empty water bottles I pick up every week.  I understand the under taking the grocery stores have with handling the current bottle returns, but they have to realize that including water bottles in the bottle law will reduce the trash on our roads and in our neighborhoods, not to mention the reduction of what goes into our already overflowing landfills.

I really do hate taking bottles back, the smell, standing in line and the time it takes. I usually save our cans and bottles in garbage bags, and wait patiently for a local church group, the boy scouts or the high school band bottle drive.  As much as I hate returning the bottles I support this law and hope that water bottles will soon be included.

Tim Somers
MichiganBusinessHub.com