page_title: Oregon Bottle Bill
section_title: Issues attributed to refundable container thefts
hierarchical_section_title: Oregon Bottle Bill / Deposit redemption / Concerns around fraudulent conduct / Theft from curbside bins and receptacles / Issues attributed to refundable container thefts
caption_attribution_description: English: A signage at the southwest corner of the Jeanne Manor Apartment Building in Portland, Oregon that reads No Returnable Bottles/Cans on Premises" indicating that they don't keep containers with Oregon Bottle Bill deposit value bearing containers on the property.
context_page_description: The Oregon Bottle Bill is a container-deposit legislation enacted in the U.S. state of Oregon in 1971 and went into effect in October 1972 and it was the first such legislation in the United States. It has been amended in 2007 and 2011. It requires applicable beverages in applicable sizes in glass, plastic or metal cans or bottles sold in Oregon to be returnable with a minimum refund value. The refund value was initially 5 cents until April 1, 2017 when it increased to 10 cents. The Oregon legislature has given the Oregon Liquor Control Commission the authority to administer and enforce the Bottle Bill. A private cooperative Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative consisting of deposit initiating distributors administers the collection and transportation of used containers.
  When passed in 1971, the bottle bill was viewed primarily as a litter control measure. In 1971 bottles made up about 40% of litter, 10.8% in 1973 and 6% in 1979. Oregon DEQ reports that the reduction is "as a result of the law" referring to the Bottle Bill. In a 2006 publication it was reported that states without similar bills recycle on average 33% of their containers.
context_section_description: In December 2018, The Columbian reported neighbors in the Cascade Park neighborhood in Vancouver, Washington near the Oregon border have noticed thefts of cans and bottles as well as the curbside bins. A district manager for Waste Connections reported glass volume processed by its subsidiary Columbia Resource Company that handles Clark County, Washington saw a 9% reduction in glass bottles returned after the deposit increased from 5 cents to 10 cents in Oregon in 2017. He attributes the likely cause to theft. Removal of contents from recycling bins or nearby them without the consent of the generator or the hauler is prohibited in Clark County. Waste Connections did not provide an exact number on thefts from recycling bins, but reported enough is removed and taken to Oregon to have a financial impact for Waste Connections which sells recyclable materials collected. The Columbian reported in June 2019 that reports of scavengers rummaging through recycling bins have increased in the past year. The newspaper reports scavengers target cans and bottles that have value across the Columbia river which undercuts the hauler as well as generating complaints from the public. Marty Smith, writing for the Willamette Week reports that community members in Vancouver started complaining about theft of cans and bottles from their recycling bins. Smith remarked that such theft in Portland is "as shocking as tattoos on a barista". To better track complaints related to recyclables scavenging, the Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency is looking into a way of tracking scavenging complaints.
  In September 2019, a waste hauler Recology for Ashland told the Ashland Tidings that in addition to theft, its drivers were experiencing harassment by emboldened recyclables thieves that they had to improvise plans to deal with theft and harassment of drivers by thieves.  Recology receives many calls from customers concerning people going through their bins. The company recommends people to not put out their redeemables, donating them to charities or redeeming them themselves to reduce this problem.
  Oregon DEQ survey reports over half of property managers interviewed identified the use of waste collection area by non-tenants, such as transients, a problem that cause issues such as contamination of recyclable materials. Oregon DEQ opined retrieval of returnable containers as the motivation for transients and other non-tenants to access the collection areas.
caption: A signage posted in downtown Portland advising would-be trespassers that no returnable containers are kept on property
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