SURE WE CAN advocates to improve the lives of canners by reducing the social stigma of canning and fighting for improvements to the bottle deposit system.

NY Bigger better bottle bill

Since the NY Returnable Container Act, aka the "Bottle Bill” was first enacted in 1982, the minimum 5-cent refundable deposit for eligible beverage containers, including still and sparkling water, soda, and beer, has never been increased. Additionally, the 3.5-cent handling fee that beverage retailers pay to redemption centers which keeps them open has not increased either, despite rising rent and wages. Sure We Can hopes to change this by supporting the Bigger Better Bottle Bill, which would expand the types and number of beverage containers covered by the law, increase the deposit to 10 cents, and increase the handling fee to 6 cents.

Sure We Can has also been pushing the NY Department of Environmental Conservation to release funding to redemption centers from The Beverage Container Assistance Program to provide immediate relief to the state’s struggling bottle & can redemption industry.

Press Releases

5/6/24 - Message in a Bottle

1/10/24 - OVER 300 BUSINESS, CIVIC, ENVIRONMENTAL, AND YOUTH GROUPS CALL ON GOVERNOR HOCHUL TO MODERNIZE STATE RETURNABLE CONTAINER LAW

9/26/23 - Long Island Groups Deliver Letter to Governor Hochul And Department of Environmental Conservation Calling on the State to Release Grants to Struggling Redemption Centers

1/27/23 - 150 Organizations Call on Governor to Include Modernized “Bottle Bill” in Budget

11/21/22 - OVER 300 NEW YORK ENVIRONMENTAL, COMMUNITY GROUPS, REDEMPTION CENTERS, CANNERS, AND FAITH GROUPS, CALL ON GOVERNOR HOCHUL TO MODERNIZE NY’S BOTTLE BILL GROUPS CALL FOR A “BIGGER BETTER BOTTLE BILL

5/18/22 - Advocates Call on State Legislature to Pass Bill This Session to Expand and Modernize NY’s Most Successful Recycling and Extended Producer Responsibility Law

11/12/21 - OVER 100 NEW YORK ENVIRONMENTAL AND COMMUNITY GROUPS CALL ON GOVERNOR HOCHUL TO MODERNIZE NY’S BOTTLE BILL CALL FOR A “BIGGER BETTER BOTTLE BILL

International Alliance of Waste Pickers

Sure We Can is a member of the International Alliance of Waste Pickers, a global coalition that advocates for the social and economic inclusion of waste pickers around the world. They raise awareness of the living and working conditions of waste pickers and their contributions to sustainable development, and advocate for better laws and policies that impact waste pickers.