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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

#151

Post by freehunter »

matthoiland wrote: post #20
meritt wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a kid, I earned a considerable amount of money (sometimes $5+ per day) riding my bike around and collecting cans and bottles during the summer. Those bought me a lot of MTG cards and layaway payments on the latest SNES game. Now I just set them alongside the recycling bin for the homeless as well. I feel like the neighborhood kids are really missing out on a lucrative opportunity.

You make look silly with two giant garbage bags hanging off your bike, but at the end of the day who's holding on to 20 bucks? It felt like a fortune back then, and was an honest hard days work.

>It felt like a fortune back then

That's the biggest problem for me. It was a fortune back then. My family would collect bottles all year and cash them in for a vacation. But back then it was 10c per bottle... 30 years ago. Today, it's still 10c per bottle. With inflation, that's more like 5c per bottle. Couple that with the rise in bottled water and other non-carbonated drinks that don't have deposit on them plus a lot of store brands and specialty bottles that require you to go to multiple stores to return, a whole day of collecting bottles might only net you $5. And then you have to spend another day going back and forth between Family Fare, Kroger, Meijer, Walmart, Target, and maybe even a specialty bottle store.

Even for kids, a lot of times it's not worth it for just a few bucks.

Re: Oregon Bottle Deposit System Hits 90 Percent Redemption Rate

#152

Post by schwank »

rdiddly wrote: post #117
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…

I had to laugh at myself, because my first thought was that it's related to the efforts of the swelling numbers of the homeless. That's basically a joke out of thin air mind you, not a "statement," so please don't bother refuting or confirming. One thing's for sure -- and this was discussed when China first reneged on recycling the plastics: Commingled recycling at the curb has been a disaster. In my opinion, predict…

I'll anecdotally contribute in agreement. I live in Portland and put all my returnables at the curb with recycling. Not worth driving to a return center to get $2 a month. The bottles are usually gone by 6am when I wake up.

Some local breweries are moving to reusable bottles that are washed and used many timees before recycling. We're building a washing plant in PDX this year to grow the program.

Re: Oregon Bottle Deposit System Hits 90 Percent Redemption Rate

#153

Post by Zimahl »

As an Oregonian, I hate this system. It's old, archaic and now pointless.

The idea behind it was to increase recycling of cans and bottles, and it did it's job. In the 70s and 80s, it was great to push that for the social good. But it's done it's job, two generations are now recycling more than ever and the coverage for curbside recycling is very high in Oregon.

But the redemption rate has plummeted in the last decade! Of course it has, people don't want to have the hassle of taking cans into a location, wasting time putting each one in the machine, and getting a couple bucks back. So they were forgoing the 5 cents and just putting it in the curbside bin. News flash - the cans in the curbside bin didn't count toward redemption rates! Oregon also made it so stores didn't have to take redemptions anymore and opened redemption centers that aren't very conveniently location for most of the state. So the rate fell - and now they have increased the rate to get people to take the cans in again. Eventually the rate is going to fall AGAIN, and not because people aren't recycling the cans, they just aren't taking them in the redemption centers.

The system is now worthless and just kept going because. Directly north of us, Washington doesn't have a can or bottle redemption system and there aren't cans and bottles everywhere - people just put them in the curbside bins like everything else.

Re: Oregon Bottle Deposit System Hits 90 Percent Redemption Rate

#154

Post by freehunter »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #140
closeparen wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it okay to pay less than minimum wage and deny benefits to what are essentially misclassified sanitation workers?

Taking bottles out of recycling bins is not doing useful labor.

And no one asked them to or hired them to do the work. It's like calling someone a street sweeper because they picked up a dime off the sidewalk. Sure it's money in their pocket but it's not exactly a job.

Re: Oregon Bottle Deposit System Hits 90 Percent Redemption Rate

#155

Post by LeifCarrotson »

benj111 wrote: post #58
LeifCarrotson wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. They're not paid if the buyer is in a state that doesn't have a bottle deposit.

No...? What? I get that Washington bottle buyer hasn't paid a deposit. But if Oregon bottle buyer has paid a deposit for a bottle, but chooses not to recycle it, there is a deposit that has been paid, but not claimed. What is the problem with the Washington bottle buyer returning their bottle in return for the deposit back? A bottle is returned, which is surely the aim of the deposit. The return rate is below 100% so…

Ah, I understand. You're assuming the deposits are fungible. I wasn't.

I guess Oregon is pretty close to finding out what happens when the return rate hits 100.1%; that would be interesting.

Re: Oregon Bottle Deposit System Hits 90 Percent Redemption Rate

#156

Post by freehunter »

dgzl wrote: post #149
rmason wrote: post #145

We're doing slightly better on the redemption rate here in Michigan though it has slipped in the past several years. Since our economy has revived I anecdotally see fewer people out collecting bottles from the side of the road. http://www.bottlebill.org/legislation/usa/michigan.htm

I was just living in Michigan and I have to say, recycling was always an afterthought to people I met. Likewise, your state is covered in snow and freezing for half the year. This are big challenges for anyone.

Right after the snow thaws is a great time to go collecting bottles. Plenty of people throw them out of their car and they get covered in snow, so when the snow thaws there is a ton of bottles all along the road.

Re: Oregon Bottle Deposit System Hits 90 Percent Redemption Rate

#157

Post by freehunter »

dgzl wrote: post #148
blahyawnblah wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a lifelong Oregonian and I agree. Taking bottles back for redemption is a pain. The places stink, there's always a line, and always one or two broken machines. Then you get a whole $10. I just stick everything in regular recycling. I would guess homeless people are the only reason it's anywhere near 90%. Everyone I know does curb side recycling.

I think you've identified a point against your argument without realizing it. If we didn't put dollar value on recycling, the recycling wouldn't be performed at the rate it currently is. Michigan is different however. When you spend half the year surrounded by snow and freezing temps, even the idea of going outside is numbing. I was living in Michigan and Illinois this last year, and they are light-years away when it…

>When you spend half the year surrounded by snow and freezing temps, even the idea of going outside is numbing

I've seen you make this comment twice in this thread and while you say you've lived in Michigan I think you drastically underestimate the resiliency of the majority of Michiganders. It was negative wind chill recently and now that it's back up to the mid 20s I see tons of people walking around without a coat on. The cold doesn't bother us that much.

Re: Oregon Bottle Deposit System Hits 90 Percent Redemption Rate

#158

Post by dgzl »

freehunter wrote: post #156
dgzl wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was just living in Michigan and I have to say, recycling was always an afterthought to people I met. Likewise, your state is covered in snow and freezing for half the year. This are big challenges for anyone.

Right after the snow thaws is a great time to go collecting bottles. Plenty of people throw them out of their car and they get covered in snow, so when the snow thaws there is a ton of bottles all along the road.

I see your point, and I remember seeing trash scattered in the spring time.

Re: Oregon Bottle Deposit System Hits 90 Percent Redemption Rate

#159

Post by kingbirdy »

myWindoonn wrote: post #45
blakesterz wrote: post #2

Funny, only 10 states have bottle bills: California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon and Hawaii. Delaware had one but dropped it. I thought they were way more popular for some reason. Redemption rates are all above 50% I guess that's not too bad. https://fox61.com/2018/05/17/connecticut-trails-other-states...

If one thinks about it, it's not especially surprising that the bottle bills are both uncommon and popular. In order to have a bottle bill, a state needs to tax every bottle, convince grocers to help collect bottles, and operate recycling processors. Thus, the state's population needs to be liberal/blue/neoliberal enough on tax policy, have a strong bread basket with lots of farmers, and care for the environment. Why…

> Thus, the state's population needs to be liberal/blue/neoliberal enough on tax policy, have a strong bread basket with lots of farmers, and care for the environment.

How are farmers relevant to whether or not a bottle bill is enacted?

Re: Oregon Bottle Deposit System Hits 90 Percent Redemption Rate

#160

Post by moate »

ars wrote: post #129
johnm1019 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

A sheet of paper can easily hold 60 barcodes, and costs about 5 cents to copy. A pack of gluesticks is $1 and can handle hundreds of bottles.

Okay, so you're down to $.0499 (aprox) per bottle. That's not taking into account the time needed to do this, or the time needed to collect the bottles, or the gas/equipment needed to haul the bottles.

This sounds like a dozens of dollars level scam, not millions.

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