Act Now to Enact the Bottle Bill

Last October I wrote a blog asking “Why is the Bottle Bill bottled up?” .

I told how a bill sponsored by Swampscott’s Lady on the Hill, Rep. Lori Ehrlich was being “bottled up” by the Judiciary Committee chaired by that “Master Bottler” himself, Charles Flaherty (D-Chelsea). I asked you to contact members of the legislature to petition to have this bill released from Committee and allowed to go to a floor vote. (Once presented for a floor vote, the bill is expected to have the overwhelming support of members of both houses of the legislature.)

Well, as Doctor Seuss said to Marvin K. Mooney: “The time has come. The time is now.”

The current Bottle Bill is Massachusetts' most successful recycling program ever but it has a fatal law, a problem that wasn’t anticipated when it was passed so many years ago

Each year, 1 billion bottles end up as litter or trash that we could recycle if we updated the Bottle Bill to include bottled water, sports drinks, iced teas and other beverages. That's enough bottles to fill Fenway Park to the Monster seats. 

Updates to the Bottle Bill have been stuck in the Legislature for the past 15 years, and with each year, we trash another billion bottles. We have until March 21 to advance the Updated Bottle Bill to the House floor before the deadline passes to move bills out of committee. 

As Speaker of the Massachusetts House, Speaker DeLeo has the power to move the Updated Bottle Bill to a vote. That’s why I signed a petition to Robert DeLeo, Speaker of the Massachusetts House, which says: "As the Speaker of the Massachusetts House, please bring the Updated Bottle Bill to the floor for a vote." 

Will you sign the petition too? Click here to add your name:  http://signon.org/sign/expand-recycling-update?source=s.fwd&r_by=2245461  

Here’s another quote from Dr. Seuss: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.”