Sen. Sean McCann of Kalamazoo is a leading advocate of expanding the state’s deposit law. That redemption rate began to slip during the 2010s but took a nosedive during the COVID-19 pandemic, falling to 73% in 2020 amid a temporary shutdown of all bottle return sites. Actors on either side of the bottle bill debate also want to reshape how the Treasury distributes the money left on the table each year. You’re going to have bins being full,” said Drew Beardslee, the vice president of government affairs for the Michigan Retailers Association. If Smith had it his way, the Legislature would approve a measure to put expanding the bottle bill on the ballot.