Just happened to bump into this while reading Blue Oregon. Cool!

http://www.deq.state.or.us/lq/pubs/factsheets/sw/ExpandedBottleBill.pdf

I always liked the bottle bill. Deposits suck, but the difference in the environment is stark. The non-deposit drinks are found everywhere --and in growing numbers. Clearly the deposit system works.

Nice to see that change, and this one:

Any store selling a particular kind of drink, must accept returns for containers on that kind of drink period. The old bill only required them to take the same exact containers they sold. All the big chains have differentiated themselves with their own soft drink lines, making returns harder, thus also a profit on the deposits.

There was also a lock-in factor in that doing that reinforced one stop shopping.

This one has been on my list of "why are we not doing this? items, since the bottled and flavored water explosion occured. (long time) The glass Snapple bottles, in particular, are the ones I notice laying around the most.

Buy your drinks in Washington, no bottle bill, and return the empties in oregon.

Wasn't that a Sienfeld episode?

What is the sales tax in Washington now? Does it apply to any or all drinks?

If you buy your soda by the carton it doesnt apply. Only on fountain type drinks.

okie sez: "Buy your drinks in Washington, no bottle bill, and return the empties in oregon."

Won't the recycling machines spit it out after it reads the bar scan on the container? Surely you don't want Amus to fill up his mail truck full of washington bottles only to hunt you down when he finds out he's stuck with them.

Okie, that worked eons ago -- and like a charm I might add -- but Skeptical is right. The new machines have replaced the bottle boys who thought it was funny to stick it to the man. The Vancouver refund trick went away along with the mammoth 3 cent Bohemians, and 25 cent Nehi deposits. Of course, in the 1970s, a nickel was worth something.

I love the new bottle bill. I hope it keeps our state clean.

Nope, it still works for most bottles, as Vancouver uses the same distributors as Oregon. The cans and bottles have the same bar codes.


But its not all that practicle, unless your going to portland for something else, most retailers only accept about 100 cans/bottles at a time, which works out to about 5 dollars, doesnt even pay for gas.

What I don't like about the barcode system is that damaged containers no longer work for deposit refund.

As a kid, we used to take off and go do stuff in town. 4 or so miles away. The deposits, particularly the 10 cent plus ones were always enough to score pop, some ice-cream, candy, etc... All you had to do was just carry them in.

Cans were the coolest, because one could just stomp those to take up the least space! Stomping them sideways hid the deposit stamp, making that Washington score viable too.

BTW, the machines are stupid. I've a little device, I got free from Radio Shack that reads barcodes, once you decode it's lame encryption. (cue cat)

If one puts the right bar code on the wrong kind of container, that's all that is checked. So, *anything* glass works in the glass ones. If it fits, you are mostly good to go, for example...

I have a love-hate relationship with the bottle bill. I hate those machines. They need to make the bottle return area a fun place to visit, like have a magician there or a gymnast.

A few times, when a scruffy looking guy was hanging around, I figured, he needed the bottle refund more than I did, so I'd give him the cans and bottles. Maybe that's why we still need the bottle bill, Except it's kinda sad that grown ups need those empties to live on, So different from when I was a kid.

Your suppossed to be able to call over a manager, and get him to approve the damaged cans.

Most stores have a 6.40 limit on returns, so if you have a whole lot, you have to go to different stores to do returns.


As a kid, I used to collect bottles for the 2C deposit, but then I could buy a used comic book for 5C, and a candy bar for 5C or another soda for 10C.

To really make people recycle, the recycle cost has to be larger, 20 or 25C.