BALTIMORE — A weekend demonstration in Baltimore showed residents what it would be like if Maryland had a bottle bill, with the Waterfront Partnership paying 10 cents for each recycled beverage container.
WATCH: Cash-for-trash event shows bottle bill benefits
The group, along with a coalition of environmental partners, attracted 300 people who signed up for the event. The demonstration was so popular that organizers filled a dumpster in just one hour.
"We brought 174," said Henry Emerson, one of the participants.
A bottle bill works by placing a deposit on beverage containers when purchased. When consumers recycle and return the container, they receive a refund of their deposit.
"We see rivers of plastic bottles that come to our trash wheel after every storm event so we know that litter is a huge issue from the effects on wildlife to microplastics and human health so bottle bill states have 80 percent less litter than states without a bottle bill and we know that 50 percent of the litter is beverage containers," said Allison Blood of the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore.
The Waterfront Partnership estimates Maryland's beverage container recycling rate would jump from 25 percent to 90 percent if the proposed bottle bill passes in the General Assembly this year. The system would be funded by beverage producers rather than taxpayers.
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