For more than four decades, returning a soda can or a water bottle in New York has earned exactly the same reward: 5 cents.
Now, lawmakers in Albany are considering whether that nickel should finally get an upgrade.
A proposal known as the “Bigger, Better Bottle Bill” would double the state’s bottle deposit to 10 cents per container, the first increase since New York’s bottle-return system took effect in 1983. The legislation would also expand the types of drinks that qualify for deposits, potentially pulling billions of additional containers into the state’s recycling system each year…