Sean Hughes, Account Director, Connecticut Package Stores Association.
By Sean Hughes
When the word “tsunami” comes to mind, a person thinks of a large wave that completely engulfs whatever stands before it. It is safe to assume that a tsunami is something that completely overwhelms whatever or whomever stands in its wave of destruction. It may not be an exact comparison, but Jan. 1, 2024, will be the first day that containers covered under the state’s bottle bill can be redeemed for 10 cents.
During the 2021 legislative session, the Connecticut General Assembly approved the expansion of products included in the state’s bottle bill and doubled the redemption value of those products. The expansion now includes different juices, teas, malt-based hard seltzers and a handful of other products that were not in existence in the 1970s when the bottle bill was initially passed. Included in the 2021 legislation was the increase from 5 cents to 10 cents of the redemption value that consumers receive for returning their empty containers.
While it has been almost a year since the expansion of products took place in January 2023, Jan. 1, 2024, marks the increase in the deposit fee. It has long been speculated that there could be a massive rush on Jan. 1 of consumers who have been holding large quantities of containers who wish to redeem them. There is nothing that identifies whether a container was sold before or after Jan. 1, 2024. By law, the retailer or reverse vending machine must pay the redeemer 10 cents for each returned eligible container. There is a limit on the number of containers a consumer can redeem at one time, but that limit is close to 250 containers per person per day. Most package stores encounter customers who return their empty containers to the store in large, plastic garbage bags. Very few package stores have reverse vending machines that customers can use to receive their deposit fee back.
Over the last few weeks, the Connecticut Package Stores Association (CPSA) has engaged with other industry partners such as beer wholesalers, grocery stores, reverse vending machine companies and redemption centers to discuss the issues surrounding the increased redemption fee. The comments that CPSA has heard from member stores and redemption centers is that there has been a decrease in container redemption rates since October. The concern with this decrease, of course, is that consumers could be hoarding the containers that they buy during 2023 to be redeemed at a higher redemption price in 2024. The retail industry was also mandated through the 2021 legislation to educate the public about the increase in the redemption fee. As discussed in these industry stakeholder meetings, there will be flyers and point-of-sale posters containing information about the deposit change delivered to stores by Jan. 1 that will explain the change to customers. There will also be social media materials that can be posted.
In addition to the larger amount of redeemed products that stores will see, there is also the possibility that consumers will be upset about the increased cost of the bottle bill. Instead of paying a bottle bill fee of $1.50 for a 30-pack of beer, customers will now be paying a $3 deposit for that same product. The concern about the cost increase was a common theme at the 2021 public hearing in Hartford at the time when this proposal was being debated. There were some legislators and members of the public who brought up the point that not all residents have a car to drive to a redemption center or retailer that accepts returned beverage containers. This increase in the bottle bill fee would be an added tax on low-income residents in Connecticut who are unable to travel to return their containers. The impacts of this financial burden on certain residents will be seen in the next few months.
A key point for package store owners to keep in mind is that this bottle deposit increase is separate from the nip environmental fee. While the nip environmental fee was included as part of the bottle bill expansion legislation in 2021, it is not redeemable. The nip fee is a 5-cent fee paid on each nip at the time of purchase to help with disposal costs. This fee is NOT increasing, and nips are NOT redeemable. We have learned that several municipalities would like the ability to ban nips within their borders and the legislature will be considering this proposal during the 2024 session.
While every new year brings fresh hope and optimism for a new beginning, this Jan. 1 should raise the anxiety level of beverage retailers across the state as they await the possible tsunami of redeemed beverage containers coming through their doors.
Find out more about any of these issues and the benefits of membership at ctpsa.com.
