The Container Recycling Institute has released data showing relatively small changes in most deposit-return system states.
In 2025, beverage container redemption rates in the U.S. deposit-return system (DRS) states—with the exception of Connecticut and, to a lesser extent, Maine—showed relatively small changes compared to the rates in calendar year 2024, according to data released by the Container Recycling Institute (CRI), a national nonprofit recycling industry authority.
CRI President Susan Collins says that DRS programs represent the “gold standard” for increasing beverage container recycling rates, with containers on deposit recycled at a 64 percent rate in the U.S. and containers not on deposit at 26 percent (based on 2021 data).
She added that given the decade-long decline in redemption rates in several DRS states, program maintenance and modernizations remain the best practices to increase redemption rates long term.
Based on legislation that placed deposits on more beverage types in California (starting in 2024) and Connecticut (starting in 2023), CRI says that more than 2 million additional beverage containers are on deposit in the U.S. compared to a couple of years ago. Redemption of more containers on deposit is crucial to ensuring a greater supply of clean, high-quality material for manufacturing new products.
“Maine and Vermont earn kudos for working to implement DRS program overhauls to lay the groundwork for future program upgrades,” Collins says. “While California receives credit for expanding beverage container redemption options for consumers, which CRI had advocated for over the course of seven years.
“The redemption rates in Massachusetts … and Michigan, both of which have lagged in making any program improvements, have dropped the most among DRS states since 2019—17 percent and 20 percent, respectively,” she adds. “This provides a clear indication of the importance of legislative and regulatory action to stabilize and ultimately increase redemption rates.”
Connecticut: A 27 percent redemption rate increase
Signed into law in 2021, Connecticut’s S.B. 1037 was the most significant DRS legislation passed in the U.S. in about a decade. Improvements included:
Raising handling fees for retailers and redemption centers to cover increases in operating costs;
Requiring chain stores that meet certain criteria to provide at least two reverse vending machines (RVMs), which added 300 new redemption sites for consumers;
Placing deposits on noncarbonated beverages and malt-based hard seltzer; and Increasing the deposit-refund for covered beverages from 5 cents to 10 cents.
Given the data showing a significant increase in Connecticut’s DRS program performance since the implementation of major upgrades, CRI says the legislation that authorized the modernization is making a difference.
Despite the positive news, the state’s DRS also is currently struggling with claims of over-redemption by some distributors, and CRI estimates that beverage sales in the state are higher than what beverage distributors are reporting. In addition, there are reports of empty beverage containers being brought across state borders by individuals seeking to take advantage of the deposit-refund price difference from state to state.
“Connecticut legislators are working on solutions to these issues, which could be inflating the actual beverage container redemption rate,” Collins says.
S.B. 457, signed into law in May, prohibits collecting or charging a refund on a beverage container not purchased in the state. However, CRI’s analysis indicates that the law’s language creates practical and legal concerns, including that it appears unworkable in the context of modern retail supply chains.
CRI guidebook on fraud and free riding
While the DRS challenges Connecticut is facing may seem novel in the state, many of the more than 65 DRS programs worldwide have tackled these problems successfully, both through legislation and effective day-to-day program management by third-party organizations.
CRI says it is nearing completion of a comprehensive guidebook that identifies practical solutions for minimizing beverage container DRS fraud, free riding and errors. The guidebook provides model legislative language and policy approaches for use when DRS programs are modernized.
California: Expansion of redemption infrastructure
California continues to roll out provisions included in legislation (S.B. 1013) and budget bill AB 179, both signed into law in 2022, that authorized more than $1 billion in spending on its DRS program. This includes funding via nearly a dozen grants for new redemption centers, RVMs, mobile recycling, bag drops and high-volume counting equipment.
However, not all legislative provisions address consumer access to redemption centers. CRI says it will continue to advocate for the use of program funds to restore availability of redemption centers, given that half of the state’s centers closed between 2013 and 2022.
California also added deposits on wine and spirits effective Jan. 1, 2024, and closed a loophole in the program by adding coverage to 100 percent fruit and vegetable juices in sizes larger than previously included.
Maine and Vermont: Simplified container sorting at redemption centers and a producer responsibility organization stewardship plan
Collins notes that in Maine and Vermont, legislative developments are overhauling the states’ DRS program structures to establish a smoother path toward larger program modernizations moving forward.
LD 1909, signed into law in 2023, mandates creation of a “commingling cooperative” of brand owners to coordinate the pickup of and payment for redeemed containers; and to establish a plan to simplify and optimize the redemption center container sorting process.
Effective July 15, unredeemed deposits are now the property of the cooperative to fund DRS program improvements instead of going back to beverage companies. By Oct. 1 of this year, brand-level sorting (typically requiring hundreds of bins) will shift to material-type sorting to streamline the process for redemption center employees, lower center costs and increase the DRS program’s overall efficiency.
Signed into law June 17, H.915 took effect July 1, with an immediate 1 cent increase in the handling fee for redemption centers to support their financial viability. Other key provisions include formation of a producer responsibility organization (PRO) by Jan. 1, 2027; an April 1, 2028, deadline for submittal of a PRO stewardship plan to the state; and implementation of the PRO stewardship plan by March 1, 2029.
As part of efforts to ensure consumers have convenient beverage container redemption options, the plan must include at least three redemption points per county.
Additionally, Collins says the number of bills introduced on new and expanded state DRS programs continues to increase.
“We know that DRS programs work,” she says. “The interest is there and progress is occurring on several fronts, though it doesn’t always get enough attention. CRI will continue our original research, objective analysis and responsible advocacy to support the passage of legislation that establishes successful DRS programs and provides effective upgrades to current ones—a vital way to benefit industry, consumers and the environment.”