Don't Trash Maryland
BRING THE BOTTLE BILL TO MARYLAND — Maryland PIRG volunteers cleanup the Bladensburg Waterfront to demonstrate the need for a Maryland Bottle Bill to increase recycling and reduce waste.
The Bottle Bill Works
TO REDUCE LITTER
Our neighborhoods and waterways are littered with bottles and cans and at the same time our recycling rate is less than the national average. Marylanders throw away 3 billion recyclable beverage containers a year! We’re working to pass a 5-cent redeemable deposit on beverage containers to increase recycling and reduce litter.
TO INCREASE RECYCLING
The bottle bill is one of the nation’s most successful recycling programs. The ten states with Bottle Bills have an average container recycling rate of 60% and have seen serious reductions in litter.
FOR MARYLAND
By uniting the public, and putting our experts and advocates in the hearing rooms and offices where key decisions are being made, we can pass a Bottle Bill in Maryland. With your support we can pass this common sense law to increase recycling, reduce waste, and prevent litter.
Issue updates
BALTIMORE -- Dozens of people gathered at the Baltimore Inner Harbor on Earth Day to congratulate the state General Assembly for passing the first statewide foam ban in the nation and call on Gov. Larry Hogan to sign the legislation into law.
Maryland is one step closer to becoming the first state to ban one of the worst forms of plastic pollution.
More than 10,000 Americans said "no" to plastic straws in February. Feb. 22 marked the third annual national Skip the Straw Day—a day created by Michigan middle school students who were fed up with plastic pollution and its impact on wildlife and the planet.
Nestle is responding to consumer demands to reduce plastic waste.
"It's freeing to not be constantly wanting more and better stuff."
Solid Waste | U.S. PIRG
25 billion foam cups trashed in the U.S.
That's 83 cups per person — every single year. They never fully degrade, but persist in our environment for centuries. Join our call to ban polystyrene foam cups and containers.
Solid Waste | U.S. PIRG
Let's move beyond plastic
Nothing we use for a few minutes should threaten our health and pollute our future for hundreds of years. One of the best ways to reduce the amount of trash headed to landfills is to ban items such as plastic foam cups and takeout containers.
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