What happened to bottle and can deposits?

Question

I havent thought of this for a while, but I still see deposits shown on many bottles and cans in various states. Can I get money back if I take them somewhere? Is the deposit included?

When I was a kid, all bottles went back to the grocery store for real refunds. Ive never taken a can back for a deposit. Have lost a fortune in bottle/can deposits over the last 15 years? :)

Inquiring minds want to know.

Answer 1

It depends on the state. In Oregon, you take the bottles back to the store. They have bottle counting machines. You just put the cans, plastic bottles or glass bottles in the machine. It counts them and spits out a slip saying how much your refund is and you go into the store to collect the money.

While visiting in California, I found it harder to refund bottles. They had centers, not connected to the stores, that were difficult to find. When I did find one, they'd take the bag of cans, count them, give me a slip and a cashier would pay me. Not as user friendly as Oregon.

In Oregon a lot of homeless people spend their days looking for cans along the roads. It's rare that a can isn't recycled here.

Answer 2

Here is how it works here in California (not much different from what you remember):
When you buy a six-pack of sodas, you also pay something called CRV (California Redemption Value) on the containers, which shows up as a separate line item on your grocery store receipt. You can think of that as paying a deposit. Currently, that is 5 cents per container for containers under 24 ounces and 10 cents for containers of 24 ounces or more. When you take the empties back to a redemption center, you get that money back in the form of a voucher that you have to take to a nearby store, specified on the voucher, to get cash.
If you see the words "CA CRV" or similar on the container, it can be cashed in. Oregon, Hawaii, and Maine do something similar.
It isn't just aluminum cans that are subject to CRV. Plastic bottles and jugs, and glass wine / beer bottles are included.

Answer 3

The "refunds" that you probably got as a kid were for refillable bottles which are washed and reused for the same product. That's very rare today. Most bottle refunds these days are the result of "bottle bills," and only exist in a few places (11 states in the US). These regulations are an effort to combat litter on the roads. If you return a bottle to one of the states listed you will get a refund.