CT Looks To Shake Up Liquor Laws Again

The Connecticut Package Store Association offered a compromise that would lower a proposed liquor and wine bottle deposit fee.

Gov. Ned Lamont wants to institute a 25-cent deposit on liquor and wine bottles and a nickel on nip liquor bottles as part of his budget proposal. He estimated that both taxes could bring more than $6 million combined in fiscal year 2020

Instead the CPSA said the state should institute a 10-cent recycling fee on liquor and wine bottles. The group also proposed a 10-cent nip recycling fee, five cents of which could be redeemed, according to the CT Mirror.

CPSA Executive Director Carroll Hughes said the bottles are already recycled through homeowner recycling programs and that it is unfair to single out liquor and wine bottles, but not other glass containers used to hold food or other beverages.

Lamont budget spokesman Chris McClure said that Lamont is willing to have discussions and plans to review the CPSA proposal, according to the Mirror.

The state is dealing with a recent collapse in the single-stream recycling market. Towns and cities used to make a small amount of money by selling off items collected in single-stream bins, but it has now become an expense, according to the Connecticut Post. Milford was getting $20 a ton for recyclables, but now it costs $75 a ton to dispose of it. The cost to burn trash is less than recycling.

Some cities across the United States have given up on collecting recycling, according to the New York Times. The change is largely due to new Chinese restrictions on not taking recyclable material that is tainted with trash and other items.

Some items like soda bottles and cardboard still make money for recyclers, but processing for other types of plastics often outweigh revenue from sales.

The change in the recyclable market has increased the emphasis of reducing and reusing items. Lamont is also proposing a 10-cent single-use plastic shopping bag tax as part of the budget. Some towns in the state have already moved to ban the use of plastic shopping bags.