PROVIDENCE — The state’s beverage distributors and liquor stores have been quietly ramping up their political donations over the past few years. The businesses, which deal exclusively with the wholesale or retail sale of beer, wine, and spirits, have been a key opposition group to the introduction of any kind of bottle redemption system, claiming it would raise business costs and make them uncompetitive with neighboring states.

Beverage distributors are particularly generous to state lawmakers. According to data from the state Board of Elections, senior leadership and employees of Horizon Beverage have donated a combined $76,900 to state politicians since the start of 2020, including multiple donations to Gov. Dan McKee; House Speaker Joe Shekarchi, D-Warwick; and Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, D-North Providence; as well as other members of the House and Senate.

The other beverage distributor in the state, the Rhode Island Distributing Co., also known as Mancini Beverage, has been almost as generous to lawmakers. Campaign records show senior leadership and employees of the company have donated $53,750 since 2020, with a similarly wide spread for donations as Horizon.

Neither Horizon Beverage or Mancini Beverage returned requests for comment.

The chief recipient of donations in the second quarter of this year was Shekarchi. Campaign finance records from Shekarchi’s campaign show he collected $28,500 in donations from beverage distributors and liquor stores.

“My long-standing policy is that no donations to my campaign have any impact on the policies we discuss in the legislature,” said Shekarchi in a statement to ecoRI News. “All donations I receive are in full compliance with state guidelines and everything is properly documented on my campaign report.”

Meanwhile, it’s not just the wholesalers — individual liquor stores are donating too. Nicholas Fede, the owner and operator of Kingstown Liquor Mart and executive director of the Rhode Island Liquor Operators Collaborative, has donated $13,850 to various state lawmakers over the past three years, mostly in small-dollar donations when compared to the liquor distributors.

Fede did not respond to a request for comment.

All three businesses have testified against bottle bill legislation, and representatives from each company, including Fede, gave a presentation during the General Assembly’s bottle bill study commission on why they thought introducing the program was a bad idea for the state.

During a January meeting, Fede and others testified it would be onerous for liquor stores to operate as redemption locations, and such legislation would make liquor stores near the border with Massachusetts economically uncompetitive.

Environmental groups and other advocates have been lobbying lawmakers for years to pass a bottle deposit system in Rhode Island, also known as a bottle bill. The system it sets up is pretty simple. Consumers pay a fee, commonly 5 or 10 cents, for every bottle they purchase at a store, whether alcohol, soda, or water. After use, bottles are returned to a redemption center of some kind, where the consumer can redeem their bottles and receive the deposit back.

Bottle bill systems have been active in other states as early as the 1970s, and both Massachusetts and Connecticut have such legislation on the books. For advocates, it’s a key solution in handling the litter problem that has arisen from single-use plastic bottles and other containers. Nips have become an egregious symptom of the litter issue, with environmental groups organizing nip and litter pickups that remove thousands of nips from highway entrances and on-ramps, parking lots, and open space areas.

More than 26,000 tons of plastic is getting buried in the Central Landfill in Johnston every year, according to a joint report released by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management and the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation. Only one out of every four pieces of plastic waste produced by Rhode Island homes is recycled in the state’s system.

A bottle bill isn’t the only issue for the state’s beverage distributors and liquor stores. In the past, industry groups and business owners have lobbied lawmakers for lowering sales and excise taxes on beer, wine, and spirits, keeping in line with their overarching theme of maintaining economic competitiveness with neighboring states.

They have also lobbied hard against liberalizing the state’s liquor licenses and allowing bigger, out-of-state chains to begin selling alcohol. Last year the Rhode Island Current reported the industry strongly opposed a House bill that would have allowed grocery stores and convenience stores to sell beer and wine. Liquor store owners told lawmakers the bill was a job-killer, that their businesses would close if they had to compete with chains such as Cumberland Farms and Stop & Shop — to say nothing of bigger wholesalers like Costco and BJ’s.

This year’s bottle bill was once again held in committee, and the study commission on the issue had its reporting deadlines extended. Despite the bill’s demise, its sponsor, Rep. Carol McEntee, D-South Kingstown, has pledged to keep reintroducing the legislation until it passes.