In early June, Connecticut lawmakers passed a measure to significantly update the state’s bottle bill for the first time in decades, expanding the list of drink containers requiring a deposit and allowing distributors to propose a new stewardship system. The bottle program is implemented by the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection.
Under the bill, drink bottles for hard seltzer and hard cider, plant water, juice, juice drinks, tea, coffee, kombucha, plant-infused beverages, and sports and energy drinks will have a 10-cent deposit — up from 5 cents — beginning January 1 2024.
The legislation also requires liquor wholesalers to begin, on October 1, collecting a five-cent surcharge on 50 milliliter liquor bottles known as “nips.” Money generated from that fee will be transferred to municipalities to help them clean up the tiny bottles, which have become a major litter problem.
