State Senator Sean McCann has introduced bills to let voters decide if they want to expand the state's bottle deposit law. If the bills pass the state Legislature and are signed by the governor, the question would appear on the November 2026 ballot.
McCann, a Democrat, said he thinks non-carbonated drink containers should have a 10 cent deposit, just like carbonated ones.
"The water bottles — everywhere I go, I see them, and they're in the garbage. They're not in the recycling stream," he said. "But also, you know, aluminum is a more valuable material than plastic. To get the aluminum in the recycling stream would be a huge win."
The bills would also let people return all beverage container brands to any store. McCann says that would boost the return rate.
"You buy a container in one store and try to take it back to another store and they refuse it, and it makes you want to not bother, quite frankly," he said.
McCann said because the original bottle deposit law was approved by voters in a ballot question, he believes a new ballot question asking voters to amend the law only needs a majority of the state House and Senate to pass.
That's opposed to the 3/4 vote that would be required if the legislature were to simply pass the amendment, without asking voters for approval.
The Michigan Retailers Association opposes the bills. The group, which represents grocery stores, said the proposal would raise grocery prices, due to "razor-thin" grocery store margins.
"Stores would have difficulty even finding room to store all the additional dirty returned containers required under this proposal," the statement continued. "Retailers have said for decades that the current redemption system is broken, costly, and inefficient. The deposit law covers only a small portion of the overall recycling stream. Instead, the state should (adopt) a comprehensive, single-stream, and easy-to-use recycling system for 100% of recyclable materials."
McCann said connected to the proposed expansion is Senate Bill 1113, an allocation of $60 million from corporate income tax revenue to fund implementation and operations of the bottle bill.
The funding would only go into effect if voters were to adopt the proposed expansion in the 2026 general election. The revenue would create a "Beverage Container Handling Fund," to fund grants to help stores expand their bottle handling systems and invest in new equipment, among other related programs.
McCann said he hoped to get his bill passed during the lame duck session, before Republicans take control of the state House next year.
