[OC] Bottles and cans with a deposit are recycled much more often than those without
Reading this fairly. All ten deposit states are shown, not just the best ones. Their reported rates vary widely: Massachusetts is at 33%, Oregon (10¢) at 88%. Every state figure is above the 26% national non-deposit figure, but the measures and years differ, so this is not a like-for-like comparison (see below).
Different measures and years. Most state bars are calendar-year 2025 redemption rates for containers covered by each state’s deposit law; Hawaii’s is fiscal year 2024–25, and Iowa’s hatched bar is a 2022 recovery rate. The bottom two bars are 2021 U.S. recycling rates cited in CRI’s August 2026 release, and “not on deposit” includes non-deposit drinks sold inside deposit states. The bottom bars show the national gap between deposit and non-deposit containers; the state bars add context. None of this gives an Illinois-specific rate.
Connecticut rose from 65% to 92% in a year, following upgrades that included more return locations and a deposit increase from 5¢ to 10¢ in January 2024. CRI cautions that cross-border returns, claims of over-redemption by some distributors, and beverage sales that CRI estimates exceed what distributors report could all inflate the reported rate.
Iowa (hatched) is CRI’s 2022 “recovery rate,” which counts curbside and drop-off recycling as well as deposit redemptions, so it isn’t directly comparable to the redemption rates.
Sources
- Data: Container Recycling Institute (CRI), press release, Aug. 3, 2026. Source of all state rates, Iowa’s 2022 figure, the 2021 national 64% and 26% recycling rates, and the Connecticut caveats. CRI is a nonprofit that advocates for deposit-return laws.
- Official program pages (used for deposit amounts, not for the rates): Connecticut DEEP, Bottle Bill FAQ (10¢ deposit since Jan. 1, 2024); Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission, Bottle Bill (OLCC administers Oregon’s 10¢ program).
- Independent reporting that cross-checks CRI’s 2025 figures (based on CRI’s data, not separate datasets): Resource Recycling, Aug. 5, 2026; Waste Dive, 2026; Hartford Business Journal, 2026 (also notes New York’s 5¢ deposit); Waste Dive, 2025 (Michigan and Oregon at 10¢).
34 replies
Good call showing all ten deposit states instead of just the best ones. The spread makes me wonder how much of it is simply the deposit amount: Oregon at 10¢ is at 88% and Massachusetts at 5¢ is at 33%, and a nickel is worth a lot less today than when most of these laws were written. A scatter of redemption rate against the deposit in today's money would be a great follow-up.
What I hate about California is that you pay the deposit, but you don't get the deposit back when recycling; it's still paid by weight. So you'll pay ten cents for the can/bottle and then need at least a whole pound of cans/bottles to get paid far less than the total deposit worth of all the cans/bottles together. It's bullshit. In Oregon, I pay ten cents for the can, I get 10 cents back for recycling that one can.
how is that a deposit. sounds like a recyclable tax
Exactly. They call it a deposit but don't treat it like one. Closest I have to an actual deposit, is there is a local brand of milk that comes in a glass jar. $2.50 deposit, but you get that $2.50 back if you clean and return the glass to the store. It's just that one specific brand, tho.
yeah oberweis did that here but I don't like to give them business because of the owners.
feel like it should be a quarter at this point with inflation.
We have to pay an extra $35 a month to have our trash company collect recycling. It just feels odd that I have to pay extra so companies can get material to sell back to me.
Often it's not financially worth it for the companies otherwise. Consider it a small price to helping keep the planet sustainable.
Where I live, this is part of taxes, but someone has to pay somehow.
Another issue that's very easy to solve (uniform, easily recyclable packaging for everything) that will not be solved because no one wants it solved. It would make shopping slightly less convenient so consumers, stores and manufacturers would be against it. Best thing we can do is pretend we're trying.
"recycled"
Glass bottles with a deposit are often cleaned and reused which is better than recycling. And because it's all the same type of plastic, plastic bottles with deposit can be recycled much more effectively than the mixed plastic that's dumped in city recycling bins.
Reportedly, we do something like 96% - 98% here in Germany.
Ontario had one of the most efficient bottle return programs through the store that sold the beer (ambiguously named The Beer Store) The government allowed them to close any stores that they wanted and so now there isn't a bottle return program in a vast number of communities. I have to drive 40 minutes if I want to take empties back. So they effectively raised the price of beer by ¢10/can.
I guess the moral is, don't take it for granted. You might get a terrible government that strives to makes things worse.
does the can have to be in its original shape? it will be melted anyway, so as long as you can compact it, i would understand. having to store empty cans in its original form full of air would be quite stupid.
In Ireland they do have to retain their shape to be returned for the deposit back. It's a pain.
Why is it a pain? 🤔
Because it takes up more space in a small house compared to being able to crush up and throw into the recycling bin, like we used to.
that must be annoying.
Wow, that's shitty. I feel somewhat safe as a German, I mean they can turn everything to shit here. But there's no way government interferes with beer. I'll buy it in crates with 20 glass bottles and most breweries use some standard bottle. I can walk 5 minutes and put it into the deposit return machine of the supermarket here, or take the car and return it to any other store which sells beer crates.
These days, deposits ought to be more like 25¢ at least, and it ought to be in all 50 states.
Why not kerbside pickup?
I don't understand your question.
You were suggesting a higher value for return but why return at all and not kerbside pickup like with other household waste.
AFAIK, bottle deposits aren't for recycling, they're for reuse (which is better). It's about providing enough of an incentive to actually get those bottles sorted and delivered back into the supply chain (down to the same brand of drink, if it comes in a distinctive bottle like Coke does) correctly.
Dumping everything in a bin mixed together to be roughly sorted, crushed, and melted down (or pulped) into new materials is a different process.
I suppose you could have the municipal recycling people sort bottles for reuse, but then they'd still need to be able to get that deposit to make it worth their while.
They're definitely for recycling here. They get crushed in the machine after they're scanned.
Not everything needs to be about money but also the amount of people who don't get their deposit back is actually loads. People are mostly lazy and it's a hassle to get it. Plus you don't get money, you get a receipt and you can only spend it in one shop or your have to go to the till and ask them to change it into cash for you.
I'm not the person you were answering to.
But I'm still not sure what you are suggesting.
If you mean just put bottles in with other waste, then the reason is that people will litter.
If you mean have bottles with a deposit collected curbside, I'm not sure how your suggestion would work. You'd leave a container filled with valuable goods on the side of the road and not expect it to get stolen? 🤔
I'm talking about the normal practice of household waste pickup. People who litter are still going to litter, they're not thinking about it.
No, I don't mean that.
That's a reasonable hypothesis, but unsupported by data:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344924005536
I'm trying to find where it talks about reduction in litter. I even asked their ai assistant but didn't get it there. Can you see it?
Thanks for the link though, it's a good one and I'll probably read the whole thing today. I've skimmed through most of it, it seems fairly comprehensive.
I collect all of my cans with deposit and take them in bulk to a local can shed where they have places that you can donate to a charity. The processor I think gives back 3¢ per can instead of 5 but that's how they make money and stay open. When a full bag is brought in for a charitable donation, they just give a lump sum instead of counting them.
I do wish that I could crush the cans and still get credit because they take up so much space, but it is what it is.
I didn't read the article, but in my country it's because the stuff with deposits contains less contaminants than stuff that's been in contact with other types of waste.
There's no need for the legend. Not only is it wrong, it also doesn't give you any additional information.