WASHINGTON (DC News Now)— To reduce littering and increase recycling, the D.C. council will consider implementing a so-called “bottle deposit bill.” The bill, formally known as the Recycling Refund and Litter Reduction Amendment Act of 2025, was introduced Thursday by councilmember Brianne Nadeau. “The goal is to get these bottles and cans out of the water stream, out of the parks,” said Nadeau. If passed, retailers would collect a 10-cent deposit from customers on every beverage container purchased. Customers could then return the empty bottles for a refund. Containers including dairy, infant formula or medications are exempt. Stores smaller than 2,000 square feet are not required to accept bottles. Implementation could include reverse vending machines at collection sites. Those machines would print out receipts that are then redeemable for cash in the store. The hope is that the payout is an incentive for customers to recycle the bottles. “Word gets out pretty fast when something becomes valuable and redeemable,” said Nadeau. Leesburg police reminds parents to warn kids about playing on frozen ponds Under the legislation, a nonprofit stewardship organization would manage the program under the leadership of the Department of Energy and the Environment. The DOEE will oversee ensuring there are collection points in every ward, including Wards 5, 7 and 8, and around the Anacostia River, where litter is the highest. “We have a severe problem here,” said Trey Sherard, with the Anacostia RiverKeeper.  “It’s not a new problem but it’s getting worse, not better. We know from cleanups and trash data over half the trash is plastic bottles or beverage containers.” He believes the bottle bill would significantly decrease the amount of pollution in the river. “In states that have these bottle bills, they work. This is not new, it’s not scary. It’s actually really frustrating and disappointing that DC doesn’t already have it.” Ten states already have bottle bills in place, including Oregon, California and New York. “This has been so long coming,” said Philip Pannel, a long time Ward 8 resident. He’s been pushing for a bottle bill since 1987, when the issue was on the ballot as Initiative 28. “I don’t like seeing trash in my neighborhood,” he said. “It’s a public health issue. There are people that use bottles for weapons, there's broken glass in playgrounds.” Initiative 28 ultimately failed and was opposed by companies including the Mid-Atlantic Coca-Cola Bottling Company, now just the Atlantic Coca-Cola Bottling Company. According to a 1987 report by the Washington Post, opponents of the ballot measure celebrated its failure. John N. Downs, then the vice president for public affairs for the Mid-Atlantic Coca-Cola Bottling Co, was quoted in the Post saying, "We worked long and hard for the victory. I want to compliment the citizens of Washington, D.C., for making the right choice today." DC News Now reached out to the company for comment but has not heard back. The legislation still needs to go through the full council process. 11 councilmembers have signed onto the legislation.