Oregon's landmark bottle redemption law may change due to concerns over drugs and homelessness

PORTLAND, Ore. – Monica Truax has lived successful her Portland location since 1992, connected a cul-de-sac she described arsenic a close-knit community. But since a vessel redemption halfway opened adjacent doorway respective years ago, her artifact has struggled with cause dealing, garbage and fights successful the mediate of the night, she said.

“It's conscionable each wholly changed,” she said. “But the radical are each inactive here, you know, each the residents are present still, and inactive raising their families.”

After much than 5 decades, Oregon's first-in-the-nation “bottle bill” — present replicated successful 9 different states — faces a imaginable overhaul, with lawmakers considering caller clip restrictions connected vessel redemption sites that immoderate accidental person go magnets for drugs and homelessness.

The trailblazing instrumentality to trim littering by incentivizing recycling helped cement the state's estimation arsenic a person successful the emerging environmental movement. It has besides go a fiscal information nett for many, including those experiencing homelessness.

The authorities echoes calls to modernize the vessel bill, with immoderate saying changes are needed to code unintended consequences.

“He did not envision this,” Truax said of erstwhile Oregon Gov. Tom McCall, who signed the vessel measure into law. “It’s conscionable a mess.”

How does the vessel measure work?

Consumers primitively paid a 5-cent deposit connected each eligible vessel oregon can, past collected the deposit erstwhile they redeemed the bare instrumentality astatine a retailer, specified arsenic a supermarket oregon convenience store.

Over the years, the programme has expanded accepted containers and accrued the deposit to 10 cents. Twenty-seven centers exclusively for returns person been opened crossed the state.

California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Vermont and the U.S. territory of Guam followed Oregon successful adopting the concept, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In Oregon, radical tin motion up for accounts successful which their refunds are deposited oregon take currency redemptions. Some stores number containers by hand. Other sites person counting machines oregon areas wherever relationship holders tin driblet disconnected bags of containers.

The deposit has not kept gait with ostentation — 5 cents successful 1971 would beryllium adjacent to 40 cents today, according to the Consumer Price Index’s ostentation calculator — but galore low-income residents trust connected it.

Why are critics upset?

Stores indispensable judge instrumentality returns erstwhile they are open, and owners of all-night convenience stores, peculiarly successful Portland, accidental they're acrophobic astir worker safety.

In an op-ed for The Oregonian/OregonLive past year, Jonathan Polonsky, president and CEO of the Plaid Pantry concatenation of convenience stores, wrote that fentanyl was selling for little than $1 a pill and “a tiny fig of cans adhd up to capable to bargain drugs.”

People redeeming containers astatine nighttime "may beryllium belligerent and intimidating, presenting a large information hazard to our store associates who person nary prime nether Oregon’s Bottle Bill to grip returns astatine that hour,” helium wrote.

Truax, who lives with her hubby successful northeast Portland, said stateless encampments and radical relieving themselves successful nationalist were among the galore things she had witnessed connected her block.

“I've seen it all,” she said, describing the scourge of fentanyl arsenic “the cherry connected the sundae.”

“It's conscionable sad," she added.

Environmentally affable income source

At the vessel redemption halfway adjacent Truax's home, Chris Grass waited with his begetter and woman successful the agelong enactment extracurricular the door. They each redeemed the maximum magnitude of 350 containers per idiosyncratic per time for $105 successful currency to assistance wage for state and supply immoderate other wealth for things similar cigarettes and java portion he's unemployed, helium said.

“A batch of radical don't similar radical that spell retired and can,” helium said. “But it's really bully for the environment."

In 2023, astir 87% of eligible containers were returned for redemption, according to the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission. That was the highest complaint successful the federation that year, according to the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative, which operates the vessel measure programme connected behalf of its distributor members.

What would the authorities do?

The measure being considered by lawmakers would let stores crossed the authorities to garbage instrumentality returns aft 8 p.m.

In Portland, it would let for “alternative” redemption sites, including imaginable mobile sites specified arsenic trucks that question to antithetic neighborhoods. Nonprofits would tally the alternate sites for radical who redeem containers each day, relieving the unit connected retailers, peculiarly downtown.

Stores successful an country with an alternate driblet tract could bounds oregon garbage hand-counted returns, with convenience stores specifically allowed to halt them astatine 6 p.m.

The connection is supported by retailers arsenic good arsenic groups similar the Ground Score Association, whose members see “canners” and discarded pickers who cod containers for income. The relation operates a Portland redemption halfway nether a span called The People's Depot that processes immoderate 38,000 containers daily, according to its website.

It has pushed backmost against claims that the vessel measure fuels the fentanyl situation and says astir radical redeeming bottles request the wealth to marque ends meet.

“Since becoming manager of The People's Depot, I'm learning however polarizing The Oregon Bottle Bill is,” the depot's operational manager Kristofer Brown said successful written grounds supporting the bill.

Do the projected changes spell acold enough?

Unlike successful immoderate different states, Oregon’s vessel measure programme is tally by the backstage beverage manufacture alternatively than authorities government. The Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative retains unredeemed deposits, which topped $30 cardinal successful 2019, according to a 2020 authorities audit of the vessel bill.

The audit recommended respective changes, including having immoderate oregon each unredeemed deposits spell to the authorities to assistance money biology programs.

Consolidated Oregon Indivisible Network, a progressive advocacy group, said successful written grounds supporting the measure that “money is piling up successful the vessel deposit fund” and called for different authorities audit.

The OBRC says unredeemed refunds spell toward operating expenses for the beverage instrumentality redemption system.

The Legislature has until precocious June to o.k. the bill, which received overwhelming support successful the Senate and is present successful the House.

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.