Dear Editor,

I am writing to ask your readers to support the 2018 Bottle Bill pending before the Vermont Legislature. Not only is the survival of this bill vital for Vermont, but expanding it to cover other plastic bottles such as juice, water and other beverages can only encourage people to return more bottles at their local redemption centers. I am constantly seeing, and picking up when possible, plastic bottles in our public parking areas and along our roadways and sidewalks. Just look around and you can’t help but notice this problem. Expansion of the bottle bill will reduce this trash, which eventually ends up in our streams, rivers and oceans, adding to the enormous worldwide plastic pollution problem and negatively affecting wildlife everywhere. Some nonprofit organizations also depend on redeemable bottles for income to use for charitable causes around the state, so if you donate your bottles you will be doing even more to help these programs. There are endless reasons to support and expand our bottle bill.

What most people don’t realize is that beverage giants Coca-Cola and the American Beverage Association have hired lobbyists in an attempt to repeal this law in 2018. Please contact your legislator today by calling the Statehouse at 828-8228 or http://legislature.vermont.gov/people/ to say you won’t stand for this nonsense and that you support the continuation and expansion of Vermont’s bottle bill.

Katherine A Collins