CHICOPEE — During its Oct. 15 meeting, the City Council read and supported three different resolutions the help with littering in the city and the state.
Massachusetts is currently working on amendments to its bottle bill to raise the deposit fee of certain containers to reduce littering that contributes to environmental pollution.
Ward 9 City Councilor Mary Beth Pniak-Costello explained, “Basically what we’re doing is we’re endorsing what the state Senate has already done or is working on. The state is now taking action and by endorsing the state senate, we’re letting the state know that it’s not only time to clean up Chicopee, but clean up the state of Massachusetts.”
In June, the Massachusetts Senate voted to modernize the bottle bill adding non-carbonated beverages, wine and spirits to the list of containers of eligible bottle deposits and increasing the deposit amount from 5 cents to 10 cents.
The first resolution supported a 10-cent nip deposit, the second resolution supported a 10-cent deposit on water bottles and the third resolution supported a deposit increase on bottles and cans to 10 cents.
Each resolution was worked on collaboratively and submitted by City Councilors Sam Shumsky, Frank Laflamme, Bob Zygarowski and Gary Labrie.
Shumsky said he worked on these resolutions “because as we all know litter is an issue in the city and I’m trying to find creative ways work together to try and combat this problem.”
He further explained the nip bottle resolution and said, “Nip bottles are something that we see a lot of in the city and I don’t agree with the concept of banning them, but I do agree with the concept of probably putting a 10-cent deposit on them so we can recycle them. The goal of this is to hopefully have people in the community who engage in cleaning up the city to hopefully have people collect these, recycle them and they can get a dime back for each one they put in.”
Many communities across Massachusetts, including Chicopee, have either discussed or successfully banned the distribution of nip bottles based on the amount of litter they produce.
Based on the resolution, it says the Massachusetts Senate has already passed an amendment to modernize the bottle bill, which includes increasing the deposit to 10 cents, adding nips to the list of containers eligible for deposit and this increase is projected to led to 3.1 billion additional containers being recycled each year.
Shumsky said he does not know where that bill stands right now in Boston but “is hoping this resolution will show support from the Chicopee City Council that we support them and their efforts to help clean our streets, our neighborhoods and our public spaces.”
The bottle bill was put into effect in January 1983 at five cents and was the first of its kind in the nation where the federal and state governments were looking for regulations and solutions regarding the environmental impact of solid wastes.
Labrie talked more about the Massachusetts Bottle Bill.
He said, “I know they’ve been discussing it in the state about going up to 10 cents but if we don’t do something like putting a 10 cent deposit on a nip, they could do away with nips. There’s been things floated around that they won’t sell nips, they’ll ban nips and that would hurt some of these package stores and liquor stores and it would also put our more pint and half pint bottles out there. I’m for this and the recommendation. By the city of Chicopee being the size that we are, I think [the state] will take it seriously this resolution.”
The City Council also discussed 10 cent water bottle resolution. Shumsky said, “This is the same thing as [nip resolution] just in regard to water bottles and I’m hoping to have the support.”
Each resolution was approved and Laflamme said he will have his office write up each resolution letter and have it sent to the state delegation, Gov. Maura Healey, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and all relevant legislative committees.
