Washington, D.C. has no bottle deposit program. As far as I can find, there hasn't been any movement to create such a program since a proposed D.C. Deposit Law went down in defeat nearly 20 years ago. And since New York State enacted similar legislation in 1982, no other state or major municipality has imposed such a law. But there's new movement in this field. Consider Oregon's recently introduced legislation to include plastic water bottles in its state-wide deposit program, which are currently excluded in every deposit program in the country. In any new deposit program, including plastic water bottles is a must. As the New York Times noted over the weekend, "[w]ater, together with other nonfizzy drinks, accounted for 90 percent of the growth of the entire beverage industry between 2002 and 2005. By the end of the decade, they are expected to outsell soda."
Washington D.C., unlike any place else in the country, is in the position to prove the concept of a reconceived and modernized deposit program solely within the confines of a major urban area without ever having to address the urban/suburban compromises that bedevil any attempts at state-wide legislation (curbside pickup v deposit centers etc.) Call it my moonshot, but I think there is major promise for the District here.
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