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My closing statement read: "There is only one real effective and incentive method to encourage environmentally sound collecting of beverage one-way containers and it is deposit in combination with High-Tech R&D resulted Reverse Vending Machines!

Co-op prepares to hit the bottles as new law nears

Some retailers say that without Container Recovery’s expansion, the new law threatened to overburden their stores. Container Recovery estimates that some distributors would have to pick up returned products at more than 3,000 retail locations statewide, and grocery stores faced sorting more than 100 different brands in their back rooms.

“Without the new (expanded) co-op, the whole system collapses,” said Joe Gilliam, president of the Northwest Grocery Association. “It’s that vital.”

Container Recovery, known by the acronym “Krink,” was formed 20 years ago by beverage distributors to pick up recyclable beverage containers from retailers, manage the flow of deposit money and sell the bottles to recyclers.

Eight member distributors pay the co-op the bottle deposits they receive from beverage sales. Container Recovery, which services the Portland and Salem metro areas, picks up the returned bottles from retailers, pays back the deposits, and sells the bottles and cans on the open market to recyclers.

The unclaimed deposits are kept by distributors.

Container Recovery also operates about 80 percent of the so-called “reverse vending” machines located at groceries across the state, machines that automate the bottle-return process for customers.

As of Jan. 1, the rechristened company will add four new processing facilities to the one it operates now in Northwest Portland, adding sites near Eugene, Medford, Bend and Pendleton. Its work force of 100 is expected to grow by about 80.

Because the company is private, company President John Andersen declined to say how much the expansion will cost.

Members pay a one-time $5,000 fee to join the co-op and $7 million a year in operating expenses for the co-op.

The expenses are expected to rise to $20 million a year with the growth of both the co-op’s territory and the expansion of the bottle bill. The membership is expected to grow from eight distributors to about 50. Some small businesses may pay less in membership fees.

Having the co-op as middle man saves not only the retailers and distributors, but because it does most of the sorting, it also benefits consumers, Gilliam said.

“If we don’t have a co-op, what we’d have would be like 1974, where everything would have to be sorted by brand,” Gilliam said. “When you came in to return your container, you’d have to stand there and wait to have your Coke cans counted separately, then Pepsi cans and then water bottles by brand.”

Peter Spendelow, a solid waste policy analyst with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, said other bottle bill states, like Maine, have multiple distributor groups doing the same work of the co-op that aren’t always in sync with each other.

“Container Recovery has taken it upon themselves to mold the distributors into one organization,” Spendelow said. “I think that’s a good idea. There are a lot of things you can do at a state level that you just can’t do as individual distributors.”

Container plans bottle-redemption centers

Container Recovery Inc. wants to launch a statewide network of redemption centers where consumers can return empty bottles and cans and receive deposit refunds.

The idea, being considered by the state’s Bottle Bill Task Force, is lauded by grocers, who believe it could alleviate the need for some stores to maintain space for bottle redemption.

They are many nonsence here. Same situation as in many countries worlwide. Janet S. Domenitz Executive Director, Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MASSPIRG)               (617) 292-4800       said: