The bottle bill in Rhode Island is gaining traction. That’s great news for our communities and the environment. Photo: iStock.
I love my morning walk and bus ride to work. But, when walking along North Main Street in Providence, the nips and other bottles littering the side of the road always trouble me. Discarded containers strewn about the streets, particularly plastic bottles, feel like an assault against our communities. But it doesn’t have to be this way. There’s a proven solution to plastic trash that works: a bottle return program (a.k.a. bottle bill).
Unfortunately, Rhode Island has fallen behind other New England states in adopting one. Massachusetts and Maine, for example, have had these programs for decades. In 2024, Rhode Island could finally get its own bottle bill.
A bottle return program will make a big difference in ending toxic plastic pollution and reducing…