Stamford 'Nip' Sales Top 708K; City Gets $35K From Deposit Surcharge

STAMFORD, CT — Alcoholic nips are everywhere. You can find them on the roadside, littered along trails, at the beach, in parks, on fields and many other spots in any given town.

To address the problem of such littering, a law was passed last fall in Connecticut that required a 5-cent surcharge on every "nip" sold. A nip is classified as a spirit or liquor beverage container of 50mL or less.

The surcharge, which went into effect Oct. 1, 2021, is passed on to the retailer and then the consumer by alcohol wholesalers. In turn, the funds are handed over to towns to mitigate the environmental, and aesthetic, havoc wreaked by the little bottles.

Patch requested the reports from the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that delineate the number of nips sold, the surcharge collected and how much each of the state's 169 cities and towns are due.

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In Stamford, according to the data, 708,502 nips were sold from Oct. 1, 2021 through March 31, 2022. The sales generated $35,425 for the city.

The law requires municipalities receiving the surcharge funds to only use the money for environmental measures to reduce solid waste generation, or the impact of litter from solid waste.

According to the law, "These measures include such things as hiring a recycling coordinator; installing storm drain filters to block solid waste; or purchasing a mechanical street sweeper, vacuum, or broom to remove litter and other debris from streets, sidewalks and abutting lawn and turf areas."

State Sen. Christine Cohen, chair of the Senate Environmental Committee, championed the legislation. She told Patch municipalities will receive checks beginning this month.

"Whether they choose to use the monies towards clean-ups, drain covers, street sweepers or another conservation-minded initiative, the towns, their residents and our environment will be the better for it," she said.

— Ellyn Santiago, Patch Staff, contributed to this report.