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Oregon's 1971 bottle bill helped put the Beaver State on the map as an innovator. Oregon became the first state in the nation to have a deposit/redemption system for cans and bottles -- a program that gets credit for high rates of recycling as well as a reduction in litter.
Now eleven other states have similar laws and Oregon's is no longer considered cutting edge. California exchanges nickels and dimes for water bottles, something Oregon won't begin to do until 2009. Governor Kulongoski's Bottle Bill Task Force is poised to continue the makeover. Task force chair John Kopetski will present a slew of recommendations for changes to the law at a meeting Friday. Setting up redemption centers to reduce grocery store returns and adding a quarter deposit to wine and liquor bottles are among the suggestions.
Do bottle and can deposits motivate you to recycle? If not, what does? Do you live in rural Oregon? What does recycling look like in your community? What changes to the existing law would you like to see? How will those changes affect you directly?
GUESTS:
- Jerry Powell: Editor and publisher of Resource Recycling Magazine
- John Kopetski: Chair of the Bottle Bill Task Force and a financial advisor in Pendleton
- Joe Gilliam: President of the Northwest Grocery Association
- Bridgett Luther: Director of the California Department of Conservation
Photo credit: Philipp Daun / Flickr / Creative Commons
Tagged as: bottle bill · recycling
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How about a BOTTLELOTTERY?
A person recycling bottles and cans could have the option of taking the 5 cent per can in cash (the present system) or applying that refund money to a lottery ticket. The "CANDO" and other recycling machines at stores could be modified to give this option and print tickets that would scan for the refund or lottery ticket. Oregonians have established behaviors in recycling and in playing the lottery. Why not combine them to increase recycling and perhaps get more funding for schools, environment etc.?
submitted by Maryellen Read -
I think it's time to end the bottle deposite. As the manager of an apartment building, I see how most of the tennants don't want to bother with returning the bottles and cans. They just stack them up beside the recycling bins for someone else to take in. I see cans and bottles left out on curbs for the shopping cart people to get. (wasn't part of the idea of the bottle bill to get the cans and bottles off the streets?) Also, if the deposite type bottles are placed in the recycling bin, then the shopping cart people are dumping those out to get them. We now have a great recycling program that most people would be happy to put those bottles and cans into without the financial insentive.
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It only takes five minutes out of my week to take our bottles and cans down to recycling center at the grocery store. I usually only make about five bucks, but I apply the voucher to my grocery bill. With the way grocery are going up it adds a nice little cushion.
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I'm an avid recycler and a recent transplant from Delaware. Delaware has a deposit on plastic and glass beverage bottles but I found it impossible to redeem them. I took them to my local grocery store (a big national chain) and it took them 15 minutes before they knew what to do. Until they offered curbside recycling in 2005 (at $6/month), I often just tossed my recyclables because I didn't know what else to do with them.
The piles of deposit containers in my garage annoys me and when I go to redeem them and the machines don't work, I'm annoyed even more. I'd put them out with my recycling, but then our neighborhood is crawling with people rooting through our recycling bins in search of those elusive depositable containers. I'd recycle with or without a deposit but I'm not sure others would. Isn't there some way that the curbside collection could credit our accounts with the deposit items in our bin so we don't have to waste fuel to take them somewhere? -
Good morning. I moved back to Oregon recently after 10 years in California. I was shocked to learn that plastic water bottles, etc ARE NOT recycled in our state. In California grocery stores frequently set up kiosks in their parking lots to accept the bottles and cans. They are counted or weighed and vouchers are given for the store on whose property the kiosk sits. I believe they are volunteer-staffed. There were other ways to recycle as well. I always recycle the bottles in my green waste can provided by Walker Garbage. The money I might pay for a deposit is not the important factor for me - keeping the bottles out of the dumps and away from our beautiful roadsides is more important to me. On a recent bike ride in the Scio-Sweet Home area I was appalled to see how many water bottles - and other trash- littered the side of the roads. If simple environmental sensitivity and commitment isn't enough to get people to recycle their bottles, then a 5 cent deposit might make them more responsible.
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I don't think that adding a deposit to wine and liquor will stimulate more recycling. The recycling will end up were it always goes... to the curb where it is recycled.
The big blue carts that were recently provided by the city of portland are the best way to deal with recycling. Being able to combine most of your recycling in one cart makes recycling alot easier. Throw it in the recycling cart and forget about it.
A better motivation to recycle more would be to expand what we can recycle at the curb... like plastic bags, plastic lids, light bulbs etc. -
The Bottle Bill needs to be expanded dramatically. Many more containers needed to be included AND the deposit should be increased as well.
Yes, I return all our returnable bottles and cans.
I believe that letting grocers off the hook, and going to redemption centers will lessen the bottles and cans returned. In this era of $4 gas, we don't need an extra errand to run to return our bottles and cans. -
Yes, deposits do motivate people. The reality is that the small deposit amount at present has not kept up with the times. If the amount could be raised, and keeping the ability to redeem the deposits at local stores, then it can still work. While our retailers cringe at the idea of continuing their role in the redeeming bottles and cans, one must remember that they benefit from the sale of these products.
One need only take a look at the sorry state of Oregon's riverside areas to know that too many people think little of redeeming bottles and cans, with the small 5 cent amount being too little to make them notice. Lets raise the amount to encourage even the lowest common denominator person out there take the time to recycle their cans and bottles.
The Clackamas and Willamette Rivers are case in point for the need to make the incentive to take them back more relevant.
Thanks,
Travis -
I think the recycling/deposit bill is great but I have problems returning my bottles for deposit. I often buy beers from small microbreweries and then I'm stuck with a bottle that I can't find any store that will take back (because they don't sell it). I currently have 20 or 30 beer bottles that the only place I know of that I can return them for a deposit is almost 75 miles away.
That need to change. You need to be able to return bottles anywhere. Period. -
Making a special case for wine and liquor bottles smacks of a government attempt at behavior modification and nothing to do with recycling. It it hard to take any effort seriously after that nonsense.
How many different bins are you going to need to meet your socio-political agenda? Mabye you should think about what your true aims are. -
i think the bill should increase the deposits on water bottle to 10cents instead of 5. i see lots of people using water bottles at large gatherings and at home parties which are eventually being thrown away in trash than recycle. also few weeks back while walking along the coast i saw more water bottles littering the beach than any other type of beverage bottles/cans.
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I work for a small vineyard in Salem. There is only one person handling administrative tasks like taxes (me), and I can only imagine the increase in paperwork that would accompany a $0.25 deposit on wine bottles. The logistics of how this law would affect small businesses like mine are a major concern. I'd be interested in the discussion focusing for a moment on the affects of this law on small businesses, specifically the wineries and breweries that are such a great part of our NW.
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I agree with lambobuick that bottles shouldn't be proprietary. In Bend, I have made the effort to return bottles and sometimes it takes me to 3 different stores before I can get rid of them all. Back in NY, I could grab any worker at the store who would count all the random bottles that the machines didn't accept or the ones without labels and simply give me 5 cents for each one, much like a redemption center.
One other thing I've seen in other countries is if you order a glass bottle drink at a restaurant, street vendor or small store you're required to drink it on site so they can return it to the distributer. If you walk away with it they kind of see that as stealing because the bottle has more value. -
I'm all for expanding the bottle bill to cover more types of containers, but I am concerned that redemption center idea would actually reduce recycling. If I had to make a special trip to a redemption center instead of being able to redeem them where I bought them, it just wouldn't happen. In the less-populated parts of the state, would there be enough centers close enough to make the trip cost effective in a world of $4.00 gas? And while some folks may not like this, the street people who are scavenging and returning bottles and cans now may find it difficult to travel to a redemption center - and they are doing a lot of recycling for us.
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I guess I don't really understand the issue. What's the advantage of redemption centers over curbside recycling in areas where that's available? Granted, my family doesn't buy soft drinks on a regular basis, but it's most definitely worth 5 cents per container to me to be able to avoid those filthy, stinking machines. Are the recycling companies opposed to taking beverage containers curbside? Because it seems as though the recycling rate would be higher if people didn't have to schlep their containers to recycle them.
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The attitude of Oregonians about the bottle program is another example of self congratulatory, Oregon environmental smugness. In this case, I see little to justify the smugness. In Iowa, which also has a 5 cent deposit, you take them into the grocery store to the customer service desk in pallets that hold 24 cans, or similar for bottles. They make a quick visual count and hand you your money. There's no smelly machine to deal with. I never waited more than a few minutes to get my money.
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Costco sells Mexican style cane sugar Coca-Cola in traditional bottles but with no deposit; how do they get away with that?
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I return my bottles because I paid a deposit and I want my money back, but the main reason is because it's the responsible thing to do.
I hope all listeners see the grocers & retailers position for the spin it is. Single serve beverages are hugely profitable for manufactures and retailers and responsibly taking care of the containers is the cost of doing business. I would be all for allowing any retailer to refuse to accept containers if they choose not to sell single serve beverages. I doubt any would be willing to make that sacrifice. I don't for a second buy the argument that someone's safety is in danger from the empty containers - that's what the rubber gloves are for. I expect the grocers & retailers to fight this tooth and nail, but they're on the losing end of a good fight. -
I recycle more than average, I even bring plastic bags and odd plastic to special recycling centers. But for deposit cans/bottles, I prefer to donate them to boy/girl scouts or other groups. I think people should be charged for their trash by the pound, with credit for recycle, perhaps only get an extra charge if there is very little recycle in relation to their trash.
Bob in Salem/Corvallis -
Obviously recyling success is due primarily to both environmental motivations and deposits. Let's get past that discussion. In either case, convenience is also clearly a key component. Redemption centers can't completely replace grocery stores unless they are similarly numberable and accessible. That will fall flat otherwise. I would like to know if anyone has considered using weight rather then numbers of bottles or cans to determine the refund. It would be so much quicker and less messy if we could weigh our bags of cans and bottles. Let's come up with a formula.
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Under the current system, there are thousands of potential return centers. If you live in a city, there might be several possible return sites within just a few blocks. Consolidating those thousands of sites into 90 seems as if it would be more likely to exacerbate problems with people waiting for their opportunity to return containers.
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As a native Oregonian, I have lots of memories of collecting bottles. When I was a teenager, my parents saved cans and bottles for me and I used it for gas money (back in the days when $10 worth of returned bottles filled my tank.) In more recent years, I've tended to leave bottles out with my curb recycling in North Portland, and these more often than not were picked up by homeless people who returned them. I am thrilled that the bottle bill will finally be expanded to cover more products, it is about time!
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Hi, this is a relevant discussion,
However, i listened to your program for 40 minutes i still don't see how all this proposals benefit 95% of the people on my street who already recycle on the curb? Does the new proposal accounts for this curb-side returns? Whos will the new bill benefit?
Thanks -
I live in Deschute CO. a few miles outside of the Bend city limits. Stores will only take back items they have sold. Wine bottles, food sauce bottles and other glass items without deposits are not taken back so I go the county dump/transfer station and return everything and forgo the deposit. There is no opportunity in the county as there are in the cities to recycle ALL glass, with or without a deposit.
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I'm a 30 year old Engineer. I used to get excited about recycling bottles when I was a kid because of the cash you can rake in. Now as my income has increased there is less of an incentive for me to recycle bottles at the store. I also find that because I don't drink much soda my bottles typically just go out with the curb side recycling at a loss of about 40 cents a month.
I have three major problems with today's system:
1. The cash back of 5 cents just isn't very much incentive when bottles from vending machines are costing upwards of a $1.35+. I would suggest 15-25 cent deposits on soda pop. Not only would more people recycle the ones they buy, just about anyone would pick one off the street and recycle it.
2. The Machines break down, fill up, and take too long to process a bottle. A better machine would be like that of the automatic coin sorter that they have at banks. You dump you coins in and in less then a minute 300 coins are sorted. If they had a machine that was this fast, more people would use it.
3. Stores and Machines linked to stores typically don't take bottles from different retailers. I typically buy bottles from Fred Meyer, Trader Joes, and Safeway. I wind up leaving about half of them behind when I go to one store to sort them all. It is too much storage to create separate bins for each retailer.
-Jeff
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In Bozeman, Montana there are unattended sites all over town where recyclables can be dropped off, as well as redemption centers. The unattended sites consist of about 6 dumpster size containers, one for glass, one for plastic bottles, 2 for cardboard, etc... They are emptied by a local recycling company on a regular basis. They are in parking lots of major shopping centers, so VERY convenient. If you want your deposit $ back you just take your recycling to the main centers.
We can't understand why this wouldn't work for Oregon , especially in more rural areas and in apartment complexes. -
I find it so annoying that I have to take my cans back to the store that I bought them from. Sometimes I just don't remember what store I got them from. I don't want to not recycle them, so I end up forfeiting my money by putting them out on the curb. It doesn't make sense. I should be able to go and recycle those cans at whatever store I happen to be at.
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You will be -- on January 1, 2009.
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What about giving us credit for our recycling at the curb instead of using tax money to build and maintain recycling centers?
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I avoid the mess, smell, and inconvenience of bottle return machines by taking my returnables to New Seasons and just placing them in a bin, where local schools pick them up and keep my deposits. The meager dollar or so that I used to earn for my efforts now goes to schools -- and the soles of my shoes don't get sticky!
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It complicates recycling quite a bit that retailers only take bottles back that they sold originally. I find this especially ridiculous that they won' t take these back since they are immediately crushed anyway. This is an unnecessary complication that serves no purpose except to discourage recycling.
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Having low volume we don't usually bother taking bottles and cans back to the store. A nickel isn't sufficient incentive. Instead we include them with our recycling. Is this a problem and do the recyclers collect the deposits?
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The current system nor the proposed changes mean a darn thing to those of us in the country. I believe 100% in recycling and would prefer to recycle every scrap I can, however....
It is annoying to live in the country and have absolutely no recycling program avaliable after having moved from somewhere that had a single stream recycling system.
Taking bottles to a store where I've yet to have a single bottle accepted at the machines and when prompted by the staff to take it inside, they simply throw it away because the bottle doesn't fit their system.
Having to drive with the cost of todays gas prices doesn't cover the cost of the returns if we have to drive to a seperate recycle center even if the tax on the glass and plastic bottles is raised.
Finally, I've found in other states that have recycling centers that they say that there is a 5 cent or 10 cent return, however, I know in CA that only applies to single cans or bottles. No one ever goes to a center to return a single bottle, so soon as they get more the a couple they switch to the weight system of measuring the number of bottles and cans and then the return is at a much lower rate so return again doesn't pay very much.
3) -
The key to making this easy is the consolidation of container design, materials that can be used and an emphasis on reuse not material recycle.
I lived in Wellington, New Zealand in the early 1990's and all milk came in glass. Milk was delivered, by foot, and the empty bottle picked up with the new delivery. There were no plastic or tetra pack containers and because glass containers were used extensively only imported beer cam in cans.
The glass was not broken up as in our (Oregon) system but washed and reused. Reuse assures the value of the conatainer. -
Sounds to me like the state ought to help develop more effective and efficient machines to process the bottles and/or cans. Make it so you could dump in a big load of cans and process them very rapidly.
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Would it work to have places like Goodwill become redemption centers? I would drop off all my returnables and just take a donation slip for my taxes if they would.
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Good idea!
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S.E. Portland Recycling Center:
**NEW ADDRESS**
4629 SE 17th Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97202
(One Block South of Holgate)
503-238-1640 -
I believe that redemption centers should located at stores is a good idea since this is the source of all the material. The problem is the stores take only what they sell and the cans and bottles have to be in pristine condition because the stores want the marketing information supplied by the machines. What needs to be done is materials should be seperated and shredded regardless of the containers' condition. The weaway.ight of the shredded material would be the basis of the charge and associated refund. This would grossly simplify the materials handling and disposal by a commercial recycler. I live in the country with the closest store 8 miles
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Two summers ago, I bike toured through California. We saw pop cans and soda bottles littered everywhere. When I asked why they weren't being recycled, people told me that the grocery retailers had lobbied to have the recycling taken out of grocery stores, and it was too much trouble now. Maybe the homeless would do it.
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I've listened to the discussion on recycling both glass and bottles but nothing has been said about plastic grocery bags. You get these from most retailers, large and small. Is there anyway to recycle these? Only the local
Safeway will take them back in Bend, otherwise they get thrown away for the local landfill or they're seen blowing across the landscape. The county dump/transfer station will not take these back for recycling. -
In Beaverton we can recycle clean, whole ones at the library and charities that distribute goods.
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I totally support expanding the number of containers that have a return deposit.
And that deposit should be raised to 25 cents - so people think it's worth doing! Keep those toxic plastic bottles out of landfills where their chemicals seep into ground water. -
The deposit should be raised & expanded to other containers.
But let's raise the deposit to 15 cents and the refund 10 cents.
The nickel would fund health care. -
Great idea about funding health care or schools, but why not a quarter? A nickel back then is worth a quarter today. In today's economy, there'd all be picked up instead of littered.
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I support changes to our Bottle Bill that will increase rates of recyling, both through financial incentives, and by making it as easy as possible for people to recyle. The redemption centers in California have proven to be expensive to operate, inconvenient for consumers, and have actually reduced recyling rates. I think changes to the bottle bill should be focused on increased opportunites for curbside recycling, particularly in rural areas. As a rural resident, I store my recylables in my garage until I have enough to fill my mini-van, then I drive 8 miles to a recycling center and sort them out into the various bins. Curbside would be fantastic. As part owner of a small Oregon winery, I am concerned about the complexity and cost I would have to bear in order to comply with some of the proposed changes. It would be particulary discouraging if the costs born by business served only to establish a costly and inefficient redemption center program that did not actually increase rates of recycling.
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this is an important topic, but I think that we should approach the issue from a different direction. We need to take a wider view of the solid waste stream regarding bottles. Let's reduce the number of non carbonated bottles by requiring producers provide water, sport drinks, etc in gallon (recyclable) bottles, and have users consume in their own reusable container. This is a growing trend for water use now, as it eliminates front end energy and resource use by not producing the individual bottles and eliminates the down stream 'redemption' flow as well.
I no longer buy water, sports drinks in individual bottles due to my concern over the tons of solid flow produced.
Glenn Vargas -
My experience is that the bottle bill worked better before these automated redemption centers replaced human counters. Machines are not well tended (break down, jam up, bins fill-up, get so dirty they can't read bar codes half the time, etc.) plus there always seems to be someone with couple hundred cans monopolizing the machines that do work (takes a long time to redeem 'em one-by-one). The grocer who said machines are a dis-incentive is absolutely right.
Now I put cans & bottles into curbside recycling bins (gave up on getting deposit back so view it as a de facto sales tax on beverages).
Rather see Oregon scrap the bottle bill instead of expand it; think it better to expand curbside recycling. Maybe put 1-cent fee on recycleables when purchased and use money to expand curbside recycling programs. -
Our local (Hood River) grocery store went from a poorly setup actual human system to a completely dysfunctional automated system. I actually gave up drinking beer in frustration with it all. Six months ago I noticed a bin just past the checkout counter with a sign " Donate bottles to fight cancer, the store takes the bottles runs them through their machine for you and donates the money to the National Cancer Society. Brilliant I can drink beer again and feel good about doing so. "What are you doing tonight?", " Oh just watching basketball and curing Cancer."
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Considering that aluminum cans fetched nearly 40c a pound in the late seventies, and about 67c a pound today, you can see that the nickel a can bounty has been a boon to the aluminum industry and has depressed the commodity. If it weren't for the government interference in the free market the price of aluminum recycling would float with the rest of inflation: my guess is around $1.60 a pound.
And from the other end of the politico/ecomomic kaleidoscope, let's look at the nickel a can price. In 1980 a nickel was worth 4 times what it is today. For the program to have the same effect today it did in 1980 it'd have to be 20c a can. -
I know for some people the deposit motivates them to recycle but for me, I've recycled my whole life (36 years) and just do it. It's unfortunate that most stores do not have people counting anymore and I only recycle at a transfer station now, so I never get my nickel back. People who recycle seem to get penalized for "doing the right thing" so if the amount of the deposit goes up, it's just more money out of my pocket to pay for a product that I will recycle anyways.
I do think using less (reduce) and reusing should be a priority, too. We live in such a consumption society and sometimes, recycling doesn't make people think about our earth as a whole. I will continue to recycle everything that can be recycled, buy less and reuse what I can.
I really enjoyed listening the the show at 9pm last night. I don't live in Portland but it is nice to know that New Season's still has a person counting bottles. When people look at cutting costs, if people recycle, use less and reuse items, garbage bills will be reduced substantially. I currently pay approximately $50/year for taking my non-recyclables (trash) to the transfer station. Thanks for the show!!! -
Overlooked in this discussion is the health issue of people making returns filling grocery carts with bottles and cans that are partially full of soda, beer, cigarette butts, urine and other contaminants.
Almost without exception the contaminated carts are immediately returned to service without being cleaned. This is a serious health issue so far being overlooked by health authorities and retail establishments.
Recycling centers would go a long way in eliminating the problem. -
Comments are now closed.
Yes, I live in rural Oregon. We have recycling stations for paper and whatnot, bottles and cans you have to take to a store and you are limited on the amount you can turn in per trip.
Redemption centers sound like a good idea. It would be a good place for entry level people to learn what it is to earn a wage, and possilibly inspire them to improve themselves so they could find better jobs.