02/05/2026
SO TO ARE VALUABLE CUSTOMERS.ESPECIALLY OUR 6.5 CENT NON-PROFIT CUSTOMERS.
NYS has decided that they are not going to try to help any redemption centers so IF WE DO NOT GET YOUR HELP their will be more products out there that YOU will not get your 5 cent deposit back. The NYS is raking in your money from your deposit each year and all you can do is complain to the redemption centers that your not getting your money back. This is not the redemption centers fault . It is yours because you are not complaining to the right people. were just a small fish in this ocean. This is what we are asking you to do. send a Testimony to help or lose your money .
you can change this in any way you see fit to express your thoughts.
Email to both:
[email protected]
[email protected]
Consumer Testimony — Public Protection
Name: __________________________
City/Town: ______________________
Chair and members of the committee,
My name is ____________________, and I live in ____________________.
I am a New Yorker who is required to pay a deposit on beverage containers. I am submitting this testimony because the system I am forced to participate in is being actively broken by state inaction — and I am losing access to get my own money back.
I pay a deposit with the expectation that I can easily redeem it. But due to nearly 20 years of suppressed pay, redemption centers are closing, hours are shrinking, and stores are limiting or denying returns. Entire communities are losing access. This is not a choice. I am being forced to pay into a system that no longer works as intended.
The longer the state ignores this crisis, the more money it keeps through unredeemed deposits. That means the system is now financially rewarding failure instead of encouraging recycling. The more access disappears, the more consumers lose — and the more the state collects.
A system meant to reward New Yorkers for recycling is now promoting state sanctioned theft from those consumers.
This situation is confusing, unfair, and deeply frustrating. This system has long been known as New York’s most successful environmental program. It works. But it feels as though New York gaining a financial stake in the system—specifically from its forced failure—has caused backwards motivation and harm to us consumers.
We are not asking for special treatment.
We are asking for the system to work as promised.
We are asking to keep access to our money—and our ability to keep New York clean.
Please take action in the budget this year to provide redemption centers with a fair and equitable handling fee so that they can stay open, restore access and protect New Yorkers from further harm.
Bills A6267 & S5820a will accomplish this goal.
Thank you for listening.
Signature: __________________________
Date: ______________________________
