Starting April 1, if you’re buying soda, bottled water or beer at the grocery store, you might notice the price is higher. That’s because the deposit Oregonians are required to pay on these bottles is rising from 5 cents to 10 cents.
Oregon was the first state to institute a bottle deposit. The change came in 1971 in an effort to curb littering. At first, the rate of return was more than 90 percent. By 2011, however, the rate had declined. The state Legislature decided if the redemption rate remained below 80 percent for two years, the deposit would double. After the rate was 68.26 percent in 2014 and 64.45 percent in 2015, word went out last summer that the deposit would go up.
When retailers purchase drinks to sell, they pay the deposit on the bottles and cans. The customers then pay that same deposit when they buy the beverages. They can get the deposit back by taking their empty bottles and cans to return centers in grocery stores or one of the free-floating BottleDrop redemption centers run by the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative.
Even though the deposit will officially change April 1, it will take time for the labels on drinks to change over. Because of that, Oregonians will be able to redeem bottles and cans purchased with a 5-cent deposit for 10 cents each. “It’s something we’re willing to deal with by basically giving the benefit of the doubt to the customer,” said OBRC spokesperson Cherilyn Bertges.
Michigan is currently the only state with a 10-cent deposit. Its redemption rates have been steadily more than 90 percent since 1990, though some say that's because residents of other states who live close to the border take their bottles into Michigan to get the higher return. In 1992, Michigan paid out more in refunds than it got in deposits.
However, Oregon and Michigan aren’t entirely comparable, Bertges said.
Michigan’s deposit has always been 10 cents, whereas Oregon is the first state to increase an existing deposit. And even if there is an initial spike in returns, it will take time to see if the change in the system will have the desired effect long-term. “We have to keep in mind that we can’t look at the first few months of the redemption rate going up and compare that data to the last several years. We’ll need to let the deposit of 10 cents be in place for a while to know how it’s really going to affect redemption. That means we probably won’t be able to measure that until maybe 2019, and we won’t have those numbers until 2020.” Even so, Bertges said, “We fully expect it to increase the return rate.”
Critics of the change say raising the deposit won’t raise the redemption rate but will instead just hike costs for consumers.
A number of factors could potentially keep the redemption rate from going up, Bertges said, including curbside recycling and the expanded range of beverages that will be included in the deposit program starting next year. As of Jan. 1, consumers will be paying a 10-cent deposit on bottles and cans containing tea, coffee, hard cider, fruit juice, coconut water and kombucha.
Copyright 2017 Oregon Public Broadcasting
