More detail on the Expanded New York Bottle Bill with important links

I've been doing a little more research and here is some more info. The bill was spearheaded by the New York Public Interest Research Group. There is news lately that the application of the rules will have to delay implementation which was slated for June 1, 2009. Why is this? First, according to the Returnable Container Act, all beverages under a gallon that are sold in NY will have to have a unique UPC code for the bottles to be recycled by Reverse Vending machines that are going to be required if you are a grocer with a store over 40,000 square feet.

Stores will also have to post a prominent sign with the "New York Bottle Bill of Rights"

The bigger issue is that the beverage companies will have to change all of their UPC's to make specific NY UPC codes and set up a distribution system that supports selling the unique NY SKU's. This is going to double the amount of packaging that will be required if you want to sell beverages: NY and non-NY. The labeling will have to include any secondary packaging or cases because the UPC GTIN affects the other units. So beverage companies will have to dual-inventory everything. The transition for these kinds of things takes about a year when you take into consideration art & label production, material, stock and then selling through existing product. 

The other thing that is vague is how will the consumer be able to tell if the beverage they are buying is approved for sale in NY. I am certain that this fact and the loss of 80% of the no collected refund money will cause some beverage companies to pull out of NY all together, but no one has made that move publicly. 

NY Passes expanded Bottle Bill

This has been coming for a long time and I applaud my home state for passing an expanded bottle bill in the 2009-10 budget that includes water bottles and will not only help the environment, but it will boost the economy by requiring that beverage companies return to the state 80%  of unclaimed bottle & can deposits to the state. This could add up to over $100 million in revenue for the state. 

A side issue will be more work for redeemers, designers and printers who will have to print new labels with updated graphics with the new refund copy. I am trying to find out what the labelling requirements will be & timing for packaging. My personal opinion is that the bill should be expanded further to include all packaging in other categories as well or be based soley on container material. Environmental Advocates of NY