The ‘Bigger, Better Bottle Bill’ was due to take effect 1 November, but state retail associations asked for a one-week delay for reprogramming cash registers.
It’s hoped that the initiative will boost recycling and remove millions of plastic bottles from landfills.
David Ried, president of Ried’s Food Barn at East Green and South Union streets, said his store is ready to accept properly labelled water products, but there may be a temporary shortage of properly labelled product to sell.
“We can’t sell it if it’s not properly labelled,” said Ried. He expects the newly labelled water products to be available very soon, however. He agreed to the ‘Bigger’ part of the slogan (‘Bigger, Better Bottle Bill’), but isn’t sure that it’s ‘better’.
“Competition will determine the price,” he said, adding that he didn’t think it would be unreasonable to see distributors pass along some of the added costs.
New York is the 11th state to require a bottled-water deposit, and the list is expected to grow. Americans last year threw away an estimated 2.5 million bottles an hour, according to data provided by the Clean Air Council.
Source: MarketWatch, Olean Times Herald
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