The tide may be turning in favor of the Bigger, Better Bottle Bill now that Dean Skelos is the Senate Majority Leader, according to the Associated Press.

Now the Senate majority leader, Dean Skelos voted for the first bottle bill in 1982 when he was in the Assembly.For years, environmentalists have advocated for expanding the state's nickel deposits to noncarbonated beverages, since many of those bottles are not recycled and end up as litter on streets and in waterways. But efforts have made little progress in the face of a well-funded opposition, led by the beverage industry. 

Now many in the environmental community say Skelos, a Republican who voted for the first bottle bill in 1982, may finally be able to break the stalemate. 

"What he has always said is that all of the sides should come together to develop an approach that balances the interests of the environmental community and consumers who are faced with ever increasing costs," said Scott Reif, spokesman for Skelos. 

The Department of Environmental Conservation reports that bottled water, iced tea, and noncarbonated beverages now make up more than 60 percent of the containers littering New York's shoreline. Since the passage of the first bottle bill 26 years ago, litter has been reduced by more than 70 percent.