HYANNIS – Sandwich State Representative Randy Hunt is supporting a proposed bill that involves nip bottles in Massachusetts.
A recent hearing was held with supporters of the bill and the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy.
This was the second time the bill has been put in front of the committee since it was originally introduced in 2017.
“So what the bill does is very simple: it adds the definition of a miniature, or a nip, bottle to those containers that require a five cent deposit,” Hunt explained.
“That’s all it does.”
The bill looks to include alcoholic drinks packaged in containers with a capacity of 100 milliliters or less into the current bottle deposit law, which already includes things such as beer bottles and soda cans.
Those in favor of the bill argue that the nickel redemption will encourage more people to pick the nip bottles up off of the ground.
Hunt conceded that the bill won’t stop everyone from throwing empty bottles out of moving vehicles, and it does not tackle the larger issue of drunk driving or underage drinking.
But the Sandwich Republican believes it will provide enough of an incentive to be noticed.
“This bill doesn’t take care of all that; we get that. What we’re trying to do is concentrate on the litter on this one,” he said.
As for the outright ban of nip bottles, Hunt said that Chelsea banned them. He said residents in the city have noticed less litter, but also explained that the issue is likely to go to court.
Hunt expects that the resolution of that case would impact how other towns move forward with outright bans of nip bottles.
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