? State lawmakers announced that they are continuing talks about expanding Connecticut?s bottle deposit law to include water, tea and sports drinks of less than 20 ounces.

Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, of Fairfield, says the current bill has worked at reducing litter and increasing recycling, which is why he says he wants to put a 5-cent deposit on all non-carbonated drinks.

?The evidence to date is nothing gets to the recycling rate as the bottle bill. It is the best measure we have. We should expand it. It is a common sense measure,? says McKinney.

The 5-cent deposit that is currently in place only applies to soda and alcohol containers, but lawmakers say they are also considering increasing the deposit to 10 cents.

Lawmakers say that expanding the bottle bill could bring in about $12 million a year in additional revenue, plus cut municipal dumping costs.