The Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) and the Illinois Environmental Council (IEC) lauded the hearing by the Senate Executive Committee on Sen. Laura Murphy’s (D-Des Plaines) bill (SB 85) to create a beverage container recycling refund program in Illinois.

“Recycling refund programs play a vital role in raising beverage container recycling rates, and this legislation would have a significant impact on improving Illinois’s environment and boosting its economy,” said Scott Breen, CMI’s vice president of sustainability. 

“The aluminium in cans has the ability to keep circulating forever since aluminium can be recycled infinitely. 

“This is how 75% of all aluminium ever produced is still in circulation. CMI is grateful to Sen. Murphy for introducing this bill and for the support of all the co-sponsors. We also appreciate the Executive Committee holding this hearing to move SB 85 forward.”

IEC Executive Director Jen Walling said: “Illinois has a long history of championing recycling and composting programs, but it has a long way to go.

“Thanks to the efforts of Sen. Murphy and the other co-sponsors of SB 85, we can continue to make progress in reducing the amount of valuable materials that take up the dwindling space in the state’s landfills.”

SB 85 would place a refundable fee of 10 cents for containers 24 ounces or less, and 15 cents for containers more than 24 ounces. Once consumers are done with the beverage, they return the container to a convenient redemption location to get their refund.

Returned containers help reduce litter and provide clean materials for manufacturers to use as recycled content in beverage containers. The result is an increased domestic supply of recycled material needed to make the beverage containers people depend on. 

This means manufacturers need to use less new material to make containers, which, in turn, reduces carbon emissions.

The bill is co-sponsored by Sen. Laura Fine (D-Glenview), Sen. Adriane Johnson (D-Buffalo Grove), Sen. Mattie Hunter (D-Chicago), Sen. Julie A. Morrison (D-Lake Forest), Sen. Patrick J. Joyce (D-Essex), Sen. Rachel Ventura (D-Joliet), and Sen. Mike Porfirio (D-Lyons Township).