DC News Now: DC council to consider ‘bottle deposit bill’ in attempt to reduce litter, increase recycling

From DC News Now:

To reduce littering and increase recycling, the D.C. council will consider implementing a so-called “bottle deposit bill.”

The bill, formally known as the Recycling Refund and Litter Reduction Amendment Act of 2025, was introduced Thursday by councilmember Brianne Nadeau.

“The goal is to get these bottles and cans out of the water stream, out of the parks,” said Nadeau.

If passed, retailers would collect a 10-cent deposit from customers on every beverage container purchased. Customers could then return the empty bottles for a refund.

Containers including dairy, infant formula or medications are exempt. Stores smaller than 2,000 square feet are not required to accept bottles.

Implementation could include reverse vending machines at collection sites. Those machines would print out receipts that are then redeemable for cash in the store.

The hope is that the payout is an incentive for customers to recycle the bottles.

“Word gets out pretty fast when something becomes valuable and redeemable,” said Nadeau.