Res. No. 173 Title Resolution calling upon the New York State Legislature to amend the "Bottle Deposit Law" to increase the bottle deposit in New York City to ten cents with seven cents going to the consumer at redemption and three cents plus unclaimed deposits going to New York City to subsidize recycling and fund local redemption centers; and to expand the scope of the "Bottle Deposit Law" to all non carbonated beverage containers including water, iced tea, wine, juice and liquor. Body By Council Members Foster, McMahon, Koppell and Katz; also Council Members Jackson, Rivera and Sanders Whereas, The New York State Legislature enacted the Returnable Container Law, also known as the "bottle bill", in July 1983; and Whereas, The "bottle bill" imposes a five cent refundable deposit on beer, soft drink and other beverage containers in order to insure a high rate of recycling or reuse; and Whereas, The effect of the "bottle bill" was not only to reduce beverage container litter, but to reduce the amount of solid waste going to landfills; and Whereas, "Bottle bills" conserve energy and natural resources, reduce waste disposal costs, reduce litter which reduces human injuries such as children cutting themselves on glass, create new businesses and jobs through the development and operation of a beverage container recycling plant; and Whereas, Since the enactment of this bill, 78,000 tons of containers per year are not handled by the City of New York, saving the city a minimum of $4,212,000 in export costs; and Whereas, In recent years recycling rates have stagnated or, in some cases, declined in New York City; and Whereas, The reasons for the decline include the following; the bottling market is shifting with an emphasis on single-serve beverages often consumed away from home and disposed of rather than returned or reused; the increasing range of beverage types that may complicate recycling education and/or may not be covered in recovery programs; the maturation of curbside and drop-off collection programs with few new programs being added; the declining support and funding for recycling; and the declining relative value of deposit amounts adopted in past years; and Whereas, The decline has led to many potentially recyclable containers being sent to landfills, thereby increasing the amount of solid waste that New York State generates; and Whereas, New initiatives and incentives are necessary in order to re-establish the popularity that the "bottle bill" first created and all the benefits that were derived therefrom; and Whereas, Recycling and deposit redemption have proven to be successful programs that should be expanded to include all plastic and glass beverage containers, including juice, iced tea, wine, liquor and water containers, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the New York State Legislature to amend the "Bottle Deposit Law" to increase the bottle deposit in New York City to ten cents with seven cents going to the consumer at redemption and three cents plus unclaimed deposits going to New York City to subsidize recycling and fund local redemption centers; and to expand the scope of the "Bottle Deposit Law" to all non carbonated beverage containers including water, iced tea, wine, juice and liquor.