Non-Carbonated Drinks May Soon Require Deposit

Governor Spitzer wants to add nickel deposits to non-carbonated drinks. He also wants to redirect unclaimed deposit money that now goes to the industry to state coffers. The double-barreled proposal — worth $100 million or more a year — sets the new governor on a collision course with businesses that would rather see the whole deposit system relegated to the trash bin.

This is no nickel-ante fight. New York consumers paid $264.2 million in deposits in 2004, according to the latest state figures. Almost a third of the deposits are never redeemed. That unclaimed money — $81.3 million in 2004 — now goes to bottlers and wholesalers.