Sales Of 'Nips' Reach 152K In Bethel, Town Banks Big On Deposits

BETHEL, CT — Give it up for that teensy, tiny bottle of alcohol, the "nip."

Squirreled away by schoolboys to be shared behind the bleachers, and scooped up from hotel mini-bars by expense account-fueled business travelers, those 50ml tastes have become Americana. Now in Connecticut, they've become a not-insignificant source of revenue for local municipalities.

Last fall, the state passed a law that required a five-cent surcharge on every nip sold, a regulation championed by Democratic state Sen. Christine Cohen (12th District), chair of the Senate Environmental Committee. Cohen said the law, and its outcome, represent a "big step forward in reducing litter and ensuring bottles and cans are properly recycled."

The surcharge, which went into effect on Oct. 1, 2021, is passed on to the retailer and then the consumer by alcohol wholesalers. And they in turn hand that money over to towns to mitigate the environmental, and aesthetic, havoc wreaked by the little bottles.

In Bethel, 152,110 nips were sold during the past six months (Oct. 1 through March 31), which generated $7,605 for the town, according to the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection. Patch received a copy of the report that delineates the number of nips sold in a community, and how much money each of the state's 169 cities and towns will receive.

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The law requires that each town use the money for environmental measures intended to reduce litter from improperly discarded nips bottles and the generated solid waste.

Suggestions include hiring a recycling coordinator, installing storm drain filters designed to block solid waste and beverage container debris, buying a mechanical street sweeper, vacuum or broom that removes litter, and the like.

— Patch editor Ellyn Santiago contributed to this report.