LANSING, Mich — Three bills in the Michigan legislature are aiming to change Michigan's 10-cent bottle deposit laws.
The three bills, House Bill No. 5421, House Bill No. 4904 and Senate Bill No. 453, would set defined hours for when businesses are required to accept bottle returns as well as expand the types of bottles that are returnable.
House Bill No. 5421 was introduced on Feb. 7 and would enact defined hours in which businesses had to accept bottle returns.
The legislation would require businesses to accept returns during "designated hours of operation," which is defined as between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m. or "any period of time between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m. when the premises is normally operated by the dealer."
That bill, introduced by Rep. Julie Rogers (D), has been referred to the Committee on Regulatory Reform.
House Bill No. 4904 and Senate Bill No. 453 were introduced in July of 2023 and would expand the types of containers that would fall under the existing 10-cent bottle return laws.
Some of the new bottles and beverage containers that would be added to the list of returnables include:
- Noncarbonated water
- Other noncarbonated drinks*
- Wine
- Spirits
*Except for plant-based milk or dairy-derived products
House Bill No. 4904 and Senate Bill No. 453 would also define new disbursement criteria for the state's bottle bill enforcement fund.
Both of those bills are currently stuck in the Committee on Regulatory Reform.
Michigan had one of the highest bottle recycling rates in the country hovering between 88% and 96% between 2010 and 2019. But that rate dropped drastically at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and has yet to fully recover. In 2022, the return rate was only 75.6%.
Michigan's bottle return law was first passed in 1976.
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