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Old 02-16-2018, 04:36 PM
 
Location: Eugene, Oregon
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I am new to the area. What are the best places to return bottles? What are the best hours where it's not as busy? Thanks!

Last edited by Random Crow; 02-16-2018 at 05:01 PM..
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Old 02-16-2018, 06:35 PM
 
Location: The beautiful Rogue Valley, Oregon
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There is a Eugene subforum (look above the main Oregon section) for better answers to Eugene-specific questions, but, in general, try the Bottle Drop redemption center
https://www.bottledropcenters.com/Lo...8&type=Centers

The nice thing about the centers is that they will take bottles from several different stores, so you don't really have to remember where you bought something (Safeway, Fred's Trader Joe's etc), you can take it all to one place.

In theory they only serve returns from certain stores, but I've found my local one takes pretty much anything with an Oregon redemption label on it. It might have to be hand-counted by the clerk, but they'll take it.

I have an account set up so I use their bags, drop off the bags to let them count them and get the coupon redeemed at the store (see the instructions at the page ref above).
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Old 02-17-2018, 04:30 AM
 
Location: Oregon Coast
15,190 posts, read 8,784,974 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PNW-type-gal View Post
There is a Eugene subforum (look above the main Oregon section) for better answers to Eugene-specific questions, but, in general, try the Bottle Drop redemption center
https://www.bottledropcenters.com/Lo...8&type=Centers

The nice thing about the centers is that they will take bottles from several different stores, so you don't really have to remember where you bought something (Safeway, Fred's Trader Joe's etc), you can take it all to one place.

In theory they only serve returns from certain stores, but I've found my local one takes pretty much anything with an Oregon redemption label on it. It might have to be hand-counted by the clerk, but they'll take it.

I have an account set up so I use their bags, drop off the bags to let them count them and get the coupon redeemed at the store (see the instructions at the page ref above).
It's not a theory. The machines simply scan the UPC barcodes. The machine has no way of even knowing what store you bought it at, or if you even bought it in Oregon. So you can return bottles you bought at Safeway to Fred Meyers, or vise versa, or even a bottle you bought outside of Oregon. The machine only knows what the product is, not where it came from.
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Old 02-17-2018, 11:55 AM
 
Location: Baker City, Oregon
5,398 posts, read 8,078,725 times
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What they can do is use the barcodes to detect products not sold in the store and refuse refunds for those bottles.
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Old 02-17-2018, 12:18 PM
 
Location: The beautiful Rogue Valley, Oregon
7,785 posts, read 18,734,906 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by karlsch View Post
What they can do is use the barcodes to detect products not sold in the store and refuse refunds for those bottles.
At my location they used to do that (they wouldn't take Trader Joe's or Natural Grocer's items) but now they just hand count anything not in their system, as long as it has an Oregon bottle deposit fee notice on it.
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Old 02-17-2018, 12:27 PM
 
Location: Bend OR
811 posts, read 1,051,355 times
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On the assumption that Eugene is similar to Bend.....

When I first moved to Oregon, figuring out the bottle drop was more complicated than I ever dreamed it could be.

First I tried taking bottles back to the store. They acted like I was crazy and just seemed irritated. Stores did not seem be set up to take back bottles, so it would break the whole flow of checkout and also irritate everyone behind me. They didn't even have a place to put bottles after giving me the few cents credit. Just an all around bad idea to try taking back to stores.

There is one redemption center in Bend and one in Redmond serving pretty much most of Central Oregon. So the bottle redemption center is heavily used and abused and gets a lot of traffic. I will not give away the best hours, which may be different at your location anyway. Stating the best hours is possibly a worse crime in Oregon than saying the location of your favorite hiking trail. Try different times. A few minutes plus or minus can make a big difference between walking up to a machine or waiting behind several grocery carts full of bottles.

I looked into the bag thing. You are already getting a minimal amount for your effort. If you include the price of the bags and limit to number of bottles in the bag, you will get almost nothing. Not worth the gas to drive there. I would toss them in the glass recycle first.

I have a garbage bag lined box I use for redeemable bottles. It holds just below 50 bottles/cans which I can divert into the fast check line if need be, if someone is stationed there to take the bottles/cans. I get about $3 for a load.

Oregon's recycle rules are crazy complicated compared to WA, where I moved from. The redemption machines will reject any damaged bar codes, of course, but they will also randomly reject some bottles/cans marked "OR" with a message "This store will not take this". You could probably argue with the management if its worth the dime for your time. Even odder is trying to figure why some things are redeemable and others not. Beer bottles and cans yes, wine bottles no, Kambutcha bottles no, recently a cranberry juice bottle went through for me.

Probably why many neighbors consider the bottle/can deposit as another tax and a way to keep streets cleaner and they just throw everything in the trash or glass recycle bin.

And don't even get me started on the other Oregon rules for what gets recycled how and where......
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Old 02-17-2018, 02:05 PM
 
Location: Oregon Coast
15,190 posts, read 8,784,974 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Thom52 View Post
Oregon's recycle rules are crazy complicated compared to WA, where I moved from. The redemption machines will reject any damaged bar codes, of course, but they will also randomly reject some bottles/cans marked "OR" with a message "This store will not take this". You could probably argue with the management if its worth the dime for your time. Even odder is trying to figure why some things are redeemable and others not. Beer bottles and cans yes, wine bottles no, Kambutcha bottles no, recently a cranberry juice bottle went through for me.

Probably why many neighbors consider the bottle/can deposit as another tax and a way to keep streets cleaner and they just throw everything in the trash or glass recycle bin.

And don't even get me started on the other Oregon rules for what gets recycled how and where......
You just got me started on this one. LOL. The first time I tried to return plastic bottles in Oregon, I couldn't because I had crushed all the bottles. So I had to just throw them all away. I think it cost me about $50. Who the hell doesn't crush plastic bottles when they are finished with them? Well obviously not Oregonians. Because in Oregon the bottle has to be kept in pristine condition to be recycled. In other countries bottles have notices on them: "Crush This Bottle After Use". So it doesn't take up so much recycling space.

I've been recycling for over 40 years, and even 40 years ago, I would crush my cans before taking them to the recycling machine. And I didn't have to feed the cans in one at a time, so it could read the barcodes. I would just open the bag and poor the crushed cans all onto the conveyor belt, and the machine would take care of the rest, in a fraction of the time it takes me in Oregon. It's like Oregon has tried to figure out how to make the bottle program as inconvenient as humanly possible. Honestly if I was not on a low income and didn't need the money so badly, I wouldn't even deal with it. I suspect the state doesn't really want people to return their bottles. The politicians would rather just keep the deposit.

Last edited by Cloudy Dayz; 02-17-2018 at 02:15 PM..
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Old 02-17-2018, 02:31 PM
 
Location: The beautiful Rogue Valley, Oregon
7,785 posts, read 18,734,906 times
Reputation: 10783
Quote:
Originally Posted by Thom52 View Post
I looked into the bag thing. You are already getting a minimal amount for your effort. If you include the price of the bags and limit to number of bottles in the bag, you will get almost nothing. Not worth the gas to drive there. I would toss them in the glass recycle first.
Not quite true - when you use the machine at the grocery store to print out the "coupon" from your Bottle Drop account, it adds 20%. We usually return 2 bags at a time and get between $10-$14 at the grocery store.

Since all we did was find two containers each about the size of the bag then fill them, slap our label on them, drive them down when we do a Trader Joe's or Natural Grocer's run (they are in the same part of town), use our card to open the bottle return locker, drop the bag off and go. No standing in lines.

Before this system you had to remember where you bought something to return it (and even then sometimes the store would reject bottles if they hadn't been entered in their system) and keep them separate. The local Fred's had one can machine and one "other" machine and one or both was usually broken. There was a red button to push, which didn't really summon anyone, so you'd have to go inside thru Customer Service, wait around while the paged someone. This system is already infinitely better.

We have one store for an area of 210,000, they could really use more.

And, speaking of recycling, starting March 5 if you are in the Rogue Valley and use Rogue Waste Management, you can only put newsprint, corrugated cardboard and lidless milk containers in the red comingle bin. No other paper (like catalogs, junk mail, office paper), cardboard, glass or plastics. Their principal buyer (in China) isn't buying anything else anymore.

ETA: a roll of 10 recycling bags cost $2.00 and they charge $0.35 for each bag (deducted from your account). Pretty nominal fee.
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Old 02-17-2018, 03:16 PM
 
Location: Oregon Coast
15,190 posts, read 8,784,974 times
Reputation: 20220
Quote:
Originally Posted by PNW-type-gal View Post
Not quite true - when you use the machine at the grocery store to print out the "coupon" from your Bottle Drop account, it adds 20%. We usually return 2 bags at a time and get between $10-$14 at the grocery store.

Since all we did was find two containers each about the size of the bag then fill them, slap our label on them, drive them down when we do a Trader Joe's or Natural Grocer's run (they are in the same part of town), use our card to open the bottle return locker, drop the bag off and go. No standing in lines.

Before this system you had to remember where you bought something to return it (and even then sometimes the store would reject bottles if they hadn't been entered in their system) and keep them separate. The local Fred's had one can machine and one "other" machine and one or both was usually broken. There was a red button to push, which didn't really summon anyone, so you'd have to go inside thru Customer Service, wait around while the paged someone. This system is already infinitely better.

We have one store for an area of 210,000, they could really use more.

And, speaking of recycling, starting March 5 if you are in the Rogue Valley and use Rogue Waste Management, you can only put newsprint, corrugated cardboard and lidless milk containers in the red comingle bin. No other paper (like catalogs, junk mail, office paper), cardboard, glass or plastics. Their principal buyer (in China) isn't buying anything else anymore.

ETA: a roll of 10 recycling bags cost $2.00 and they charge $0.35 for each bag (deducted from your account). Pretty nominal fee.
Tip: Sometime when you are buying a lot of stuff at Fred Meyers, ask the checker if they would mind bagging your stuff in the giant bags. Not only does it save five or ten small bags, but their large bags are really strong. I've been reusing some of them over and over for recycling bags. Large Target bags aren't bad either, but don't waste your time with Walmart bags.
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Old 02-17-2018, 03:28 PM
 
Location: The beautiful Rogue Valley, Oregon
7,785 posts, read 18,734,906 times
Reputation: 10783
The bags I was referring to are the ones you buy from the Bottle Drop centers for using at the bottle drop off. You need to use their bags and their labels for that.

I bought a set of 5 very sturdy washable canvas tote boxes with handles (they allege they hold up to 50 lbs, but I've never put that much weight in them) and a stiff plastic bottom liner that line up perfectly in the back of my small hatchback - those are what I use for grocery bags. They probably haven't saved me money (I think Fred's takes ten cents off for every bag you bring in for your groceries), but they pack nicely, are washable and mean that I don't have a wad of plastic bags to recycle.
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