Could NY double bottle deposits to 10 cents? Support grows, criticism persists

NEW YORK (PIX11) -- It's a pretty common sight in New York City -- people with bags full of bottles and cans that they've gathered to take to deposit locations and receive 5 cents in return for each bottle or can they turn in. 

That 5-cent amount has gone unchanged for more than four decades. Efforts to change it, as well as other aspects of the deposit program, failed in the New York legislative session that ended last month. However, the sponsors of the legislation, called the Bigger Better Bottle Bill, are now saying they will bring it back with changes that will let more items get more cash back, despite some criticism of the effort. 

The deposit process was on display at a bottle and can redemption center on St. James Place and James Street in Lower Manhattan on Wednesday. 

There, a constant stream of people brought bags and bags of cans and bottles. Each delivery resulted in a few dollars for each person, called canners.

However, as a cold drink vendor who goes by the name "Big Willie" who was outside of the redemption cen...