Deposit on water bottles now in Oregon?! (Portland, Bend: coupon, homes)

[TechmanOR]

State of Oregon has long mandated a 5cent deposit on carbonated beverages.
Since you don't always have a can of drink at home, many end up in a trash can/public recycling receptacles.

5 cent deposit won't cause people to take their cans back home, therefore it's a common sight to see dirty transients going through the trash cans on public as well as private property.

Portlanders are known for being environmentally conscious, so whenever available the cans are placed in recycling bins. The transients often target these properly sorted cans in bulk, sometimes taking the entire bag. As these cans will end up being recycled anyways, their action actually cause recycling companies money and contribute nothing good to the public.

Ok, so apparently starting the first of this year, they expanded the deposit law into water bottles as well and further attracts transients. Despite expanding deposit law, the state failed to simultaneously add a law to enforce the theft of renewable commodity assigned to someone else.

For those not familiar with the system:
When you purchase carbonated beverages, you're charged 5 cents per container at the point of purchase. You can then return the container to the retailer you purchased from, or any other retailer who carry the same product and get a cash refund on the deposits. Anyone can bring in cans, and get a cash refund, no questions asked.

[karlsch]

I'm not sure I understand the point of you post.

Are you saying you want the state to pass a law that says that dirty transients will be arrested for collecting and returning containers for beverages that they did not originally purchase??

Does this mean we would have to build more jails?

[Bendite]

So you are saying that by adding a deposit to plastic bottles, we are going to attract more transients? You really thing that 5 cents a bottle is going to bring transients into Oregon so they can steal them to get the change? Have you evidence?

[NightBazaar]

There are plenty of bottles and cans littering the sides of roads that people must toss out from their cars. However, there are people who wander the roads collecting such debris to cash in for a bit of money. While littering is an eyesore, these people not only make a little cash that someone else didn't want to bother with, but they help clean up the environment and the recycling companies benefit by receiving these items. Yes, sometimes inmates are also sent out for clean up duty. These people are actually making a contribution to society.

I'm not sure why people collecting discarded bottles and cans should be considered as a problem, when the problem falls squarely on the shoulders of those who littered in the first place.

I do agree that adding a refundable deposit to water bottles is a good idea though. But what difference does it make who gets the deposit refund for turning in refundable containers along the roads or in litter bins? No one is stopping people from walking off with expensive shopping carts, so how would it be enforceable to restrict people from collecting refundable containers?

[BLAZER PROPHET]

Originally Posted by Bendite

So you are saying that by adding a deposit to plastic bottles, we are going to attract more transients? You really thing that 5 cents a bottle is going to bring transients into Oregon so they can steal them to get the change? Have you evidence?

I think what he's trying to say is that if we increase the refundable deposit containers by 100% (or more), then it may increase the activity of 'dumpster divers' who troll for pop cans... for money.

To me, I doubt it. The fact more containers will be available that one can obtain a 5 cent refund, simply the more there will be to gather.

[Silverfall]

Recycling companies make good money on metals. Plastic is small potatoes.

Honestly, if you want to make sure you are not "stealing" money from our recycling companies, put only clean paper products in your recycling. Oregon recycling companies get more money than other states for our recycled paper bundles because they tend to be cleaner than other states. Clean bundles mean better money for recycling.

Not sure why you care who brings in the container. It is one less off our streets and in our landfills.

[mtusarah]

I dont know about transients... In Michigan we have a 10 cent deposit and most people save the cans until they have a full bin and return them and use the reciept as a coupon off of groceries. I grew up doing pop bottle drives for fund raising for school and clubs, so its not just "transients".

If you don't want people going through your trash then don't leave your garage open.

I don't get the point of your post.

[TechmanOR]

Originally Posted by Silverfall

Recycling companies make good money on metals. Plastic is small potatoes.

Honestly, if you want to make sure you are not "stealing" money from our recycling companies, put only clean paper products in your recycling. Oregon recycling companies get more money than other states for our recycled paper bundles because they tend to be cleaner than other states. Clean bundles mean better money for recycling.

Not sure why you care who brings in the container. It is one less off our streets and in our landfills.

It is a problem, because they don't settle to just littered cans. They'll go through trash, recycling bins and sometimes leaving litters around the trash can.

This whole deposit thing costs everyone money.

It costs consumers money and time as they have to pay upfront, then take the cans back to the store to obtain a refund, which can easily take 15-20 minute to recover $10.00 in deposits they're owed.

Since EVERY store who sells the product must accept bottle returns and not every stored is equipped with machines, employees have to hand out them. It costs businesses money. Larger stores will have to get the self-service machines.

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by TechmanOR

It is a problem, because they don't settle to just littered cans. They'll go through trash, recycling bins and sometimes leaving litters around the trash can.

This whole deposit thing costs everyone money.

It costs consumers money and time as they have to pay upfront, then take the cans back to the store to obtain a refund, which can easily take 15-20 minute to recover $10.00 in deposits they're owed.

Since EVERY store who sells the product must accept bottle returns and not every stored is equipped with machines, employees have to hand out them. It costs businesses money. Larger stores will have to get the self-service machines.

I disagree. I used to live in Illinois and there was trash all over the highways and city streets. Don't underestimate the costs to cities of cleaning up trash along the roadways and such. Oregon is very clean. I have no doubt that the bottle bills saves tax payers money in landfill and environmental cleanup costs.

The whole smaller store argument has been talked about forever but most people use the machines at larger stores.

I just put my bottles in my bins and give them to the recycling company. It is your choice to return them for the deposit and spend your time and gas. Honestly if it is too much work to return bottles put them in the bin and let the recycling company take them. Otherwise just drink less pop, and use one plastic bottle for water. It's better for your body and the environment that way.

[shedwyn]

Those prices - 5 cent and 10 cent - haven't changed since I was a kid in the 70s. THAT is the problem. If you were charged an inflation adjusted amount of deposit, you might just make sure you didn't throw out that can or bottle and cash it in yourself!

I can't tell you the numbers of cans and bottles I see laying around because someone didn't place a value on keeping their environment clean. I assure you, if I were charged a 25 cent deposit on that Snapple bottle, I wouldn't leave it out to get smashed or picked up by a homeless person.

I find people dumping trash on the ground repulsive, insulting and uncouth - these people usually have warm homes to go to at night and they have so little respect for their neighbors and environment that they just trash it? Maybe it would be good for those folks to live at the local dump for a week and see how they like living in a trash heap.

Again, I think if they raised the deposit, there would be no bottles left lying around. All the piles of cans I come across when hiking in Illinois might just be an unpleasant memory if they were WORTH hauling out the same way they got hauled in. The world is different now, no one would vote for an increase, but it would certainly help "Keep Oregon Green."