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Oregon Bottle Deposit System Hits 90 Percent Redemption Rate

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Re: Oregon Bottle Deposit System Hits 90 Percent Redemption Rate

#31

Post by tyre »

Afforess wrote: post #16
nkurz wrote: post #9

There is fear that some significant portion of the recent increase in redemption rate may be due to fraud. Oregon recently increased the redemption from 5 cents to 10 cents, but the neighboring state of Washington still does not have a deposit. This creates an incentive for people to scavenge bottles in Washington and return them across the border in Oregon. Here's a recent article about the problem: "Oregon senator…

Is this still even a thing? Michigan also has a 10 cent deposit, and fraud was an issue in the 90's, but it's been fixed since. Grocery stores use automated bottle scanners to check barcodes. I'm not sure how you could "fool" a machine that needs a barcode for each physical bottle return.

It does check the barcode, but a generic coke bottle could have been purchased in Washington and returned across the boarder for 10 cents.

That’s a valid bottle, but an abuse of the system because they are getting 10 cents from Oregon that was never paid. The point of the program is you pay 10 cents and get it back if you recycle.

Re: Oregon Bottle Deposit System Hits 90 Percent Redemption Rate

#32

Post by SlowRobotAhead »

pmiller2 wrote: post #10
warmwaffles wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Head to the midwest. No one wants to run a recycling operation. You'll see people throw away plastics, metals, and glass all the time. Recycle bins are hard to find when you don't live in a city.

People return bottles and cans in Michigan, though, because of the 10 cent deposit and the fact you can return them directly to any store that sells the product. Not having to go to a recycling center is huge. They are generally picked up and, presumably, recycled, by the bottler.

In case people aren't from Michigan and don't understand how this works...

Many stores have automated scanning machines. You feel UNCRUSHED bottles and cans in, a worm drive spins them around while scanning for the barcode. If that can was sold in MI, you get a .10 credit. You just stand there feeding them in at bigger stores. Many of the grocery stores devoted a portion of their cart storage / entry to these machines. It's important to note that they are required to be uncrushed because it's a pain in the ass storing full size empties imo.

Re: Oregon Bottle Deposit System Hits 90 Percent Redemption Rate

#33

Post by myWindoonn »

nkurz wrote: post #9

There is fear that some significant portion of the recent increase in redemption rate may be due to fraud. Oregon recently increased the redemption from 5 cents to 10 cents, but the neighboring state of Washington still does not have a deposit. This creates an incentive for people to scavenge bottles in Washington and return them across the border in Oregon. Here's a recent article about the problem: "Oregon senator…

Specifically, the Portland, OR metro area includes Vancouver, WA; they are separated only by a river and two very congested interstates. Additionally, there are recycling centers in the Jantzen Beach region, sandwiched between Portland and Vancouver on the OR side.

Re: Oregon Bottle Deposit System Hits 90 Percent Redemption Rate

#34

Post by evan_ »

I'm not sure if this is a statewide thing or what but in Eugene we have a "BottleDrop" facility- it's a big warehouse with a storefront where you can take individual bottles/cans for refund, or you can bag them up in bulk and drop them off and they process them for you, and you get a credit applied to your account which you can cash out at most of the local grocery stores.

I always do the bulk option, you can just drop bags off at a drive-up location. They charge a small percentage to handle it for you but it's worth it to me to have someone else handle it.

Re: Oregon Bottle Deposit System Hits 90 Percent Redemption Rate

#35

Post by llukas »

Afforess wrote: post #16
nkurz wrote: post #9

There is fear that some significant portion of the recent increase in redemption rate may be due to fraud. Oregon recently increased the redemption from 5 cents to 10 cents, but the neighboring state of Washington still does not have a deposit. This creates an incentive for people to scavenge bottles in Washington and return them across the border in Oregon. Here's a recent article about the problem: "Oregon senator…

Is this still even a thing? Michigan also has a 10 cent deposit, and fraud was an issue in the 90's, but it's been fixed since. Grocery stores use automated bottle scanners to check barcodes. I'm not sure how you could "fool" a machine that needs a barcode for each physical bottle return.

You mean print proper barcode and put it over original one?

Re: Oregon Bottle Deposit System Hits 90 Percent Redemption Rate

#36

Post by johnm1019 »

llukas wrote: post #35
Afforess wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this still even a thing? Michigan also has a 10 cent deposit, and fraud was an issue in the 90's, but it's been fixed since. Grocery stores use automated bottle scanners to check barcodes. I'm not sure how you could "fool" a machine that needs a barcode for each physical bottle return.

You mean print proper barcode and put it over original one?

For $0.10 a can, I don't see this strategy being profitable.

Re: Oregon Bottle Deposit System Hits 90 Percent Redemption Rate

#37

Post by blacksmith_tb »

martinald wrote: post #15
claudiulodro wrote: post #5

As an Oregonian, I think the biggest contributor is definitely bumping the redemption value from 5 cents to 10 cents. At that price, it makes it economically viable for the homeless population to spend lots of time going around and gathering every available bottle. In my neighborhood, I even have homeless people digging through my recycling bins every few hours rummaging for bottles to cash in!

Is this actually a good thing? In Germany (esp Berlin) homeless people do this a lot, but I've seen them basically empty a whole trash container on the street to get a few bottles. While it's great there is a revenue source for the homeless; I can't help thinking that it's not a great way to do it. Must cost a fortune to clean up the trash after people have been through them, way more than the few (euro)cents you get…

The simple solution is to design recycling carts with some kind of for-deposit-item hopper. Here in Portland I just set mine next to the can, since there's no chance they'll go unclaimed.

Re: Oregon Bottle Deposit System Hits 90 Percent Redemption Rate

#38

Post by francisofascii »

nkurz wrote: post #9

There is fear that some significant portion of the recent increase in redemption rate may be due to fraud. Oregon recently increased the redemption from 5 cents to 10 cents, but the neighboring state of Washington still does not have a deposit. This creates an incentive for people to scavenge bottles in Washington and return them across the border in Oregon. Here's a recent article about the problem: "Oregon senator…

Random checks of out-of-state mail trucks should certainly be in order. :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bottle_Deposit

Re: Oregon Bottle Deposit System Hits 90 Percent Redemption Rate

#39

Post by fitzroy »

nkurz wrote: post #9

There is fear that some significant portion of the recent increase in redemption rate may be due to fraud. Oregon recently increased the redemption from 5 cents to 10 cents, but the neighboring state of Washington still does not have a deposit. This creates an incentive for people to scavenge bottles in Washington and return them across the border in Oregon. Here's a recent article about the problem: "Oregon senator…

See also: Seinfeld episode "The Bottle Deposit".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bottle_Deposit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1blsZxXDCU

Re: Oregon Bottle Deposit System Hits 90 Percent Redemption Rate

#40

Post by benj111 »

nkurz wrote: post #9

There is fear that some significant portion of the recent increase in redemption rate may be due to fraud. Oregon recently increased the redemption from 5 cents to 10 cents, but the neighboring state of Washington still does not have a deposit. This creates an incentive for people to scavenge bottles in Washington and return them across the border in Oregon. Here's a recent article about the problem: "Oregon senator…

Is this a problem?

100% of deposits have been paid for by people. If someone else returns their bottle and the deposit payer can't be bothered, that's a win win surely.

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