Monica Truax has lived in her home in Portland since 1992, on a dead-end street she described as a tight community. But things changed after a bottle return center opened next door a few years ago. She said her street has since dealt with drug sales, trash, and fights happening during the night.
“It’s just all completely changed,” she said. “But the people are all still here, you know, all the residents are here still, and still raising their families.”
Oregon’s bottle return law, which was the first of its kind in the country and has been copied by nine other states, may be getting some big changes. Lawmakers are thinking about adding new rules on the hours that bottle return places can stay open. Some people believe these centers are now attracting drug activity and people who are homeless.
The law was created to cut down on litter by offering money back when people return bottles and cans. It helped give Oregon a strong reputation for caring about the environment. It has also become a way for many people, including those without homes, to earn money.
Some people think the law needs updates to fix problems that weren’t expected when it first started.
“He did not envision this,” Truax said about former Oregon Governor Tom McCall, who signed the law. “It’s just a mess.”
How does the bottle bill work?
When it began, shoppers paid a 5-cent deposit for each bottle or can and got the money back when they returned the container at a store, like a supermarket or gas station.
The program now includes more types of containers and the deposit is 10 cents. There are 27 centers across the state that only focus on bottle returns.
California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Vermont, and Guam have made their own versions, based on Oregon’s idea, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
In Oregon, people can set up accounts to collect refunds or ask for cash. Some stores count bottles by hand. Other places use machines or let account holders drop off bags.
Even though the deposit hasn’t kept up with inflation — 5 cents in 1971 would be about 40 cents today — many people with low incomes still depend on it.
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Stores are required to take back bottles and cans during their open hours. Owners of stores that stay open all night, especially in Portland, are worried about safety for their workers.
In a piece written for The Oregonian/OregonLive, Jonathan Polonsky, the president and CEO of the Plaid Pantry store chain, said fentanyl was being sold for less than $1 a pill. He said that even a few bottles or cans could be traded in for enough cash to buy drugs.
He said people bringing in containers late at night “may be belligerent and intimidating, presenting a major safety risk to our store associates who have no choice under Oregon’s Bottle Bill to handle returns at that hour.”
Truax, who lives with her husband in northeast Portland, said she has seen homeless camps and people going to the bathroom in public on her street.
“I’ve seen it all,” she said, calling the spread of fentanyl “the cherry on the sundae.”
“It’s just sad,” she added.
Bottle returns as income and environmental help
At the return center near Truax’s house, Chris Grass waited with his father and girlfriend in a long line. They each brought back 350 bottles or cans — the daily limit — and got $105 in cash. He said the money helped pay for gas and extras like cigarettes and coffee while he was out of work.
“A lot of people don’t like people that go out and can,” he said. “But it’s actually good for the environment.”
In 2023, around 87% of bottles and cans were returned in Oregon, according to the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission. That was the highest return rate in the country that year, according to the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative, the group that runs the program for beverage distributors.
What changes are being suggested?
The bill lawmakers are considering would let stores stop taking returns after 8 p.m.
In Portland, it would let “alternative” places handle returns, such as mobile centers that go to different neighborhoods. These would be run by nonprofit groups to help people who bring back bottles daily and reduce pressure on stores, especially downtown.
Stores near an alternative drop spot could stop hand-counting returns, and convenience stores would be allowed to stop hand counts after 6 p.m.
Retailers and groups like the Ground Score Association support the proposal. That group includes “canners” and others who collect bottles and cans for money. It runs a return center in Portland under a bridge called The People’s Depot, which takes in about 38,000 bottles and cans a day, according to its website.
The group disagrees with the idea that the bottle bill is making the fentanyl crisis worse. It says most people who return bottles are just trying to earn money to get by.
“Since becoming manager of The People’s Depot, I’m learning how polarizing The Oregon Bottle Bill is,” the depot’s operational manager Kristofer Brown said in written testimony supporting the bill.
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Unlike other states, Oregon’s bottle return system is handled by the beverage industry instead of the government. The Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative keeps the money from bottles and cans that aren’t returned. In 2019, that added up to more than $30 million, according to a 2020 state audit.
The audit suggested changes, including giving some or all of that money to the state to help pay for environmental programs.
A group called the Consolidated Oregon Indivisible Network, which supports progressive causes, backed the bill and said “money is piling up in the bottle deposit fund.” It asked for another government review.
The OBRC says unreturned deposit money helps cover the costs of running the program.
The Legislature has until late June to decide on the bill. It has already passed in the Senate and is now being discussed in the House.