Start Rinsing Your Ice Tea and Kombucha Bottles Connecticut

It's finally here, in a little over two weeks, January 1, 2023 - Connecticut's new bottle recycle law takes effect. Years of confusion as to what kind of beverage bottles I have to recycle, will be over. No more empty water bottles taking up most of the recycle bin, no more Arizona ice tea cans thrown into the bottle return center recycle bin. Whew.

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As of January 1, 2023, Connecticut will place a 5 cent deposit on most every fruit juice, coffee, tea, and sport drink container that is sold in our state. Connecticut is one of 11 US states that have bottle bills, the others are California, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, and Vermont. What's up New Hampshire and Rhode Island? Still raging against that New England recycling machine?

I absolutely have noticed a big decrease in nip bottles in every grocery, drug, and liquor store parking lot since Connecticut's 5 cent surcharge on nips was imposed in October 2021. It's atrocious to see so many empty water bottles in trash cans, and those energy drinks? Red Bulls and Monsters litter every recycling center. I've screwed up so many times when my wife brings home an exotic beverage, like a Kombucha, or a new iced coffee drink, I blindly toss the bottle in with the soda cans.

The bigger news in all of this is that on January 1, 2024, Connecticut is going to raise the bottle deposit from 5 cents to 10 cents. I'd expect a big sale on beverages in December of 23, and I'm hoping that Newman and Kramer are loading up the mailbox right now.