OLD LYME–The town’s Waste and Recycling Committee has announced the hiring of Raechel Peterson as Old Lyme’s Waste and Recycling Coordinator using funds from the state’s nip bottle surcharge.
Committee member Fred Behringer in a press release said the two-day-a-week position is funded by nip bottle deposits collected in Old Lyme and returned to the town through the state’s redemption program. The funding allows the new position to be supported outside the town’s general fund.
Nip bottles are the 50 milliliter beverage containers often found on the side of the road that spurred a 2021 state law instituting a 5-cent surcharge on the miniature bottles. The surcharge on bottles sold in Old Lyme comes back every six months to fund environmental cleanup and litter reduction efforts.
Data from the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of Connecticut show Old Lyme received $3,715.00 for the 74,300 nip bottles sold there between Oct. 1, 2024 and March 31, 2025.
Behringer said Peterson will explore ways to reduce the environmental impact of its waste stream and manage disposal costs.
Peterson earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from South Carolina’s Coastal Carolina University in 2023. She went on to work as an environmental specialist at the University of North Carolina Asheville before becoming an Environmental Conservation Corps member with the Sustainability Institute in Charleston, SC. Peterson recently completed a seasonal position with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP) Waste Engineering and Enforcement Division.