Plastic bottles, glass bottles and aluminum cans are approximately two and half times more frequently littered in Virginia, a state without a bottle bill, than in states that have bottle bills, according to a new report by Clean Virginia Waterways of Longwood University.

“We compared litter data from states with bottle bills to states without bottle bills,” said Katie Register, executive director of Clean VA Waterways and author of the report.

Bottle bills require that customers pay a deposit when they purchase a beverage, then return the empty bottle or can to redeem the deposits at the point of purchase or redemption center.

“In Virginia, bottles and cans accounted for nearly 22 percent of all litter recorded by volunteers in 2019,” Register said.

“But in states with container deposit bills, bottles and cans accounted for less than 9 percent, on average, of the total debris recorded.”

The report, “Littered Bottles and Cans: Higher in Virginia Than in States with Bott...