Thoughtless disposal of nip bottles creates problemsDate: 1/17/2023 WESTERN MASS. – Got a nip of Fireball in your pocket or purse? Local officials are urging you to dispose of that bottle responsibly.
The Connecticut River Stormwater Committee – with members from 19 communities – is seeking cooperation from the public in disposing of plastic nip bottles properly.
The committee reports The Connecticut River Conservancy’s Source to Sea Clean Up has collected more than 16,566 of these small plastic bottles over the past five years. The Connecticut River Conservancy website notes, “When plastic enters the river, it breaks up into tiny pieces, but never fully degrades.”
Patrick Beaudry of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC) said the number only represents those bottles that were counted. “That number is the floor,” he added.
While Beaudry explained to Reminder Publishing, “We are not trying to describe a policy solution,” and added, “The real goal is an awareness campaign to expose the problem.”
Beaudry explained the plastic bottles are frequently tossed on the street and get washed into storm drains by rain. The bottles then can find their way to the river. The results are clogged pipes and polluted waterways.
PVPC Chief Environmental Planner Patty Gambarini said, “To local Departments of Public Works officials, regional planners and environmental advocates, the fix is simple: toss nip bottles into the trash bin.”
The Connecticut River Stormwater Committee noted that given their small size, nip bottles are not recyclable in Massachusetts as they jam sorting machinery.
Other communities in the state have responded with bans of the sale of nips in light of the pollution hazards. Chelsea was the first in 2019. The Cape Cod Times reported that in November of last year, Bourne was considering a ban on the sale of nip bottles. According to its story, nip bottles represent 25 percent of alcohol sales in that community.
Mashpee started the ban in that community in June 2021 and Newton put a ban on the sale of nips bottles in July of last year.
In 2019, Brien Kyes, the police chief in Chelsea and the then president of the Massachusetts Mayor City Police Chief Association, advocated a ban on nip sales. The Massachusetts Package Store Association has taken action, according to its website, since 2018 to oppose nip bottle sales bans.
Beaudry said, “We want people to responsibly discard their nip bottles in Massachusetts.”
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