[citation needed] Since the original Bottle Deposit Law was enacted, there has been tremendous growth in the consumption of beverages exempted.
[4] According to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, updating the deposit law to expand the scope of coverage to include water, coffee-based drinks, juices and sports drinks is expected to increase the number of bottles recycled annually from 600 million (40%) to 1.2 billion (80%).
[1] In order to address cost concerns by opponents to a proposed amendment, MassDEP conducted a survey in July 2011, to assess whether amendments to the existing Bottle Deposit Law (BDL) might lead to negative impacts on consumer prices, choice and retailer costs.
The results of this survey suggest that the BDL results in no difference in beverage prices for consumers; no difference in consumer choice; and that sufficient infrastructure and capacity exists to handle the anticipated increase in the volume of beverage containers processed should the law be expanded.
[6] A 2011 study by Jeffrey Morris, Ph.D., and Clarissa Morawski for the Container Recycling Institute found that expansion of the Bottle Deposit Law would result in net gains in domestic jobs.
This would have addressed growing concern over the nearly 1.4 billion containers not covered by existing legislation that are found in litter and landfill waste.
[5] The goal of the initiative petition that placed the measure on the ballot was to broaden the scope of beverage types requiring a deposit in order to be more responsive to consumer preferences as well as establishing a mechanism for stabilizing the recycling industry by tying the handling fees paid to redemption centers to the Consumer Price Index.