Conservation

How biodiversity credits can bridge the global biodiversity funding gap by fostering measurable conservation outcomes.

In Illinois alone, more than 90 percent of wetlands have been lost.

Washington, D.C., aims to follow 10 states that have their own bottle bills. Local officials say the legislation would help the district make more direct changes to its recycling system and support environmental justice initiatives in a city where pollution has disproportionately affected communities of color.
D.C. “has a significant litter issue,” but beverage containers are a particular concern, said Brianne Nadeau, a D.C. council member who sponsors the bill. That’s because plastic bottles make up about 60% of all the trash collected from the Anacostia River each year, according to environmental organization Anacostia Riverkeeper.
The pollution is a major reason why D.C. officials introduced a bottle bill instead of something like an extended producer responsibility bill for packaging, she said. “There were a lot of conversations about what made the most sense for the District of Columbia, but our goal is to get bottles and cans out of the river,” she said. Many of the containers end up going to landfill rather than getting recycled, she said.
Trey Sherard, who leads advocacy and outreach work for river protection nonprofit Anacostia Riverkeeper, said in a statement that the bottle bill could cut the amount of river litter in half. The nonprofit has called for D.C. to adopt a bottle bill for several years.
D.C.’s proposed bottle bill takes inspiration from several other states’ programs, including in Oregon and in Nadeau’s home state of Michigan. “Return rates are declining in places where the deposits are lower, so starting with [a 10 cent deposit instead of 5 cents] made a lot of sense in the way we drafted it,” Nadeau said.
The bill calls for a district-wide disposal ban on covered beverage containers on Jan. 1, 2027. The deposit program would start in 2028 with a 10-cent deposit, but that deposit value…