PORTLAND — The increasing popularity of miniature liquor bottles known as “nips” has caused lawmakers in Maine to propose a new way to help keep the state’s roadside gutters and ditches clean.
The Portland Press Herald reports a bill pending in the Legislature would require retailers to collect a 15-cent bottle deposit on the small 50 milliliter nips just as they do for larger wine or liquor bottles.
If L.D. 56 passes, Maine would become just the second state to collect a bottle deposit on nips.
Officials with the Maine Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations say sales of nips have increased as much as 40 percent annually during the past five years.
With that increase, residents and legislators alike have voiced concern with how nips are often littered.
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