For the first time since Oregon’s Bottle Bill recycling program began, Oregonians returned more than two billion beverage containers, as the program paid out more than $205 million to consumers and local nonprofits in 2022. The Oregon Beverage and Recycling Cooperative, which oversees the Bottle Bill program, recently released its 2022 data. According to OBRC president and CEO Jules Bailey, the program hit another milestone — the highest redemption rate in the nation. On average Bailey said the redemption rate across the nation is 35%. “We had last year, the highest redemption rate in the nation and this year we’ve even gone up from that redemption rate,” he said. “We went from 80.6% up to 88.5%.”
Oregon’s Bottle Bill is a first-of-its-kind recycling program that was implemented in 1971 to reduce a growing litter problem along Oregon beaches, highways and other public areas. It’s funded by implementing fees on distributors depending on the bottle and container sold in stores. The redemption program charges a 10-cent fee when consumers buy a redeemable container which they can get back when they return the empty container to redemption centers or participating stores.
Consumers can open BottleDrop accounts and choose to keep the funds or defer their redemptions to benefit nonprofits and programs like food banks, schools and environmental groups. In 2022, more than 5,000 Oregon nonprofits raised $5.1 million by redeeming bottles and cans. One of those is the Oregon College Saving Plan. After launching more than three years ago, the program recently announced it reached $1 million saved for higher education through the Bottle Bill program.