Legislation that would exempt cocktails sold in pouches from Michigan’s 10-cent bottle deposit law is on its way to Governor Rick Snyder. The state Senate approved a final version of the legislation and the House concurred.Retailers asked for the amendment to the state’s voter-approved bottle deposit law. They say frozen cocktail pouches are not recyclable -- and are not accepted by machines that take returnable bottles and cans.
State Senator Tory Rocca says there’s no reason to subject cocktail pouches to the deposit law.
“I don’t think you’re going to see any issue with these things," Rocca says. "It is so limited, such a small type of beverage. I don’t think you’re going to see a big problem with this.”
“I don’t think we’re headed in the right direction if we start exempting things from it," says state Senator Rebekah Warren. "I actually think we should be going in the other direction and adding more things into the bottle bill.”
Warren was one of just a few lawmakers to oppose the bill. She says it will lead to more litter and more unrecyclable trash headed to landfills.