 |
Plum Point Clean Up,
Delaware
River Sweeps |
Discarded beverage containers are a significant and persistent litter problem, as COA’s Beach
Sweeps data over the years confirms. In April 2023, now-retired NBC-NY environmental
reporter Brian Thompson interviewed NJ Governor Murphy and asked whether the Governor
would support a bottle return bill as seen in ten other states, including New York and
Connecticut. Gov. Murphy answered that he supports it in concept. NJ Assembly Speaker
Coughlin agreed that it was something that should be studied, and a few months earlier, in
its First-Year Report, the New Jersey Plastics Advisory Council (chaired by COA’s Cindy Zipf)
identified “a need for a bottle bill study” in the Second Year Work Plan Tasks.
While details of proposed legislation are still being worked out, COA is working with
organizations to build support for an effort to establish a refundable deposit law on beverage
containers in New Jersey. Nearly 70 organizations support the concept of a bottle bill, which
will complement and support the existing Clean Communities and recycling programs
that municipalities rely upon for litter abatement. Interested in signing-on, or know of a
group? Review a Statement of Support and to sign-on a group, go to:
https://forms.gle/MohdPjmBUZvRSAva9.
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