NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A group of local partners launched an upcoming pilot program to help curb the amount of alcohol nip bottle litter in the City of North Adams and neighboring communities. 

 

At a City Council meeting in September, Mayor Jennifer Macksey and Police Chief Mark Bailey presented the need for North Adams to prohibit the sale of nip bottles. This conversation sparked an initiative led by City Councilor Keith Bona and Benjamin Lamb from the NAMAzing Initiative, in collaboration with BFAIR. They are launching a pilot program that will offer a 5-cent refund for each clean nip bottle returned to BFAIR's redemption center, starting Nov. 1, and continuing as long as funding permits.

 

This collaborative group of individuals and local agency partners has already pulled together $1,000 for the pilot, equating to the potential "return" and diversion of 20,000 individual nip bottles that would otherwise be thrown in the trash or deposited as litter in the community. Additional financial donations to the BFAIR Redemption Center to support the program are welcome and will go directly towards sustaining the pilot. 

 

Monetary donations can be sent to BFAIR, 771 Church Street, North Adams MA 01247 with an included note that indicates it is for the "Nip Bottle Program." 

 

According to a press release, in Massachusetts alone, over 25 million nip bottles are sold annually, and while a 2024 bottle bill established a plan for these bottles to have a 5 cent deposit like existing soda and beer cans do, this has yet to be deployed.

 

The North Adams pilot program offers a new opportunity to see exactly how much impact such a bottle bill could have on preventing nip bottle litter around local streets, parks, and neighborhoods by putting a tangible value on turning the bottles in.

 

BFAIR, or Berkshire Family and Individual Resources, has operated their redemption center since 2009, serving as an employment and vocational training opportunity for their clients while simultaneously offering a recycling resource for the region. For over thirty years, BFAIR has been providing Adult Family Care (AFC), Residential, Employment and Day Services for adults and children with developmental disabilities, Acquired Brain Injury and Autism. BFAIR is a proud member agency of the Northern Berkshire United Way and the Williamstown Community Chest. 

 

While the Nip return pilot program won't officially start until Nov. 1, individuals are encouraged to either save their own used nips, or take the time to collect nip bottle litter from around the city leading up to the start date to make the most of this  program.