In some places that is. In CT, there is a 5 cent deposit on soda bottles and cans of all sizes. Also for a bunch of other states enumerated on the label. Yet on the water bottle I have here, which is exactly the same object as the soda bottle, there is only a deposit for Maine (5 cents) and California (unspecified “cash”).
Anyone know what the rationale for this difference is, or how it came about?
The deposits were not ordained on high for all bottles: your state legislature had to vote on a bill specifying what bottle would require a deposit and which wouldn’t. Lobbyists on both sides tried to get their lists approved. Grocery stores hate bottle deposit laws, as they have to do the bookkeeping, as well as deal with all the bottles people bring back. I believe manufacturers also oppose such laws, because they make the products more expensive. A deal was cut at some point, saying something like “OK, we’ll do the soda bottles, but for god’s sake not the water bottles – those things are useless, and people refill them anyway.”
The other factor is simply the age of the bottle return/deposit laws. Most were passed in the late 1970s before bottled water became a big item. The laws have wording that cover soft drinks and beer, but not other products. I know a couple of states have been wrestling with the “coolers” because wine and liquor bottles were not covered under the deposit laws and the “coolers” are neither beer nor pop, so they are not covered.
Of course, once the states began eyeing the “cooler” containers, then the politics mentioned by Nametag cut in. The “cooler” distributors keep taking any proposed changes to the deposit laws back to the legislatures and claiming "this law means I’m going to have to collect deposits and bottles for Seagram’s and Chivas–at which point the horrified legislators back away.
Similar campaigns have been launched regarding the bottled water on the grounds that all the people buying gallons of distilled water for their clothing irons are going to be horribly inconvenienced.
I’m in CT too, and it’s not just water bottles that don’t have a bottle deposit, it’s ALL non-carbonated beverages (iced tea, lemonade, Yoo-Hoo, etc.). Just FYI.