Yup. I remember at the time, the industry fought it but the environmental lobby won.
Ditto for can & bottle deposits, which correlated to a HUGE difference in the cleanliness of public spaces and beaches. Way more than I had expected: I didn’t expect a bottle law to reduce trash, but in Michigan, it sure did. My guess was that once people had a good enough incentive to collect the bottles and cans, it wasn’t much more effort to collect the trash too.
When I was in Hawaii in 1985 it looked just like Michigan before the deposit law. I was traveling on the cheap so met a lot of locals. I mentioned that they should try to pass a bottle law. They were ALL against it, for so many different (and contradictory) reasons. I pointed out that the group that deposit laws helped the most were people who needed money and had spare time, especially in a tourist area: easy income strolling the beach with a plastic bag! Deaf ears. Oh well.
Here in NC (where I’ve lived since 2000) we don’t have deposits, and we don’t seem to have the trash issue that MI had in the late 60’s early 70’s. Again, just guessing, but the law to require recycling plus general increase in environmental awareness causes the majority of people using public property mind their garbage.
I don’t think I ever dropped a pop top into the can before drinking it.