It is impossible to tell how many water bottles the county collects each year because the bottles are just part of the jumble of plastic items recycled through the transfer stations and sold to recyclers on the open market. However, there is no doubt that the new law will reduce the number of plastic of bottles delivered by individuals to the recycling bins at the transfer station or left at the curb for municipal pickup of recyclables.

Race said the financial impact to the county of the “Bigger, Better Bottle Bill” may be offset by a couple of factors: a reduction in the tipping fees the county pays to recycle its plastics and a reduction in the market value of plastics that could result from an increase of plastic recycling.

“We pay a tipping fee to dispose of our recyclables, so with more bottles out of the system, it will eventually cut down on the tipping fee," Race said.

At the same, if the plastics market gets inundated as a result of the increased recycling the new bottle law encourages, it will drive down the value of recycled plastic, she said.

 “We are going to have to take a wait-and-see approach,” Race said. “It may be a wash, but we won’t know until the law takes effect.”

FAST FACTS

Water bottles sold in New York State after June 1,2009, will have a five-cent deposit code, just as beer and soda cans now have.

The State of New York expects to bring in $115 million a year by keeping 80 percent of unclaimed five-cent deposits on water bottles. The rest of the uncollected funds will go to the manufacturer and distributer.

Noncarbonated beverages account for 95 percent of the growth in total beverage sales from 2000 to 2006.

Beverage container recycling rates nationwide declined from 41 percent to 34 percent between 2000 to 2006.

More than 700 nonprofit groups, small businesses, and local governments, including the Sierra Club and Scenic Hudson, called for updating the bottle law since the campaign was launched in 2000.