Bend Bottle Drop Redemption Center to Open December 19

Bottle Drop will allow consumers to redeem their bottles and cans quickly and efficiently in a fully staffed, indoor facility seven days a week from 9am to 6pm. The new redemption center, located at 755 NE Second Street, is operated by Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative (OBRC) in partnership with participating area grocery retailers.
The 7,000 square foot facility will employ approximately eight people and offer three convenient ways to redeem Oregon deposit beverage containers:

• Hand Count-Staff will count up to 50 containers per person.
• Self-Serve- Automated machines will accept up to 350 containers per day.
• EZ Drop- Pre-labeled bags can be filled at home with deposit containers and dropped off 24 hours a day.

Redemption center staff will count and sort the containers. EZ Drop customers can access the cash value from their account within 48 hours at participating grocery store kiosks or any BottleDrop location.

“We’re working to modernize the now 42-year-old bottle bill by changing from a ‘return-to-retail’ structure to a more efficient, user-friendly redemption center model,” says John Andersen, President of OBRC. “This is part of our ongoing effort to increase Oregon’s redemption rates and deliver a positive experience to consumers.” Participating grocery stores within 1.5 miles of the new redemption centerwill no longer be required to accept deposit containers after January 6, 2014. Participating grocery stores within a 3 mile radius will accept a maximum of 24 containers per day.

Participating Retailers

No Longer Accepting Containers:
• Erikson’s Thriftway at 725 NE Greenwood Ave
• Safeway at 645 NE 3rd St
• Bi-Mart at 351 NE 2nd St
• Newport Avenue Market at 1121 NW Newport Ave
• Albertsons at 1800 NE 3rd St
• Fred Meyer at 61535 S Hwy 97

Accepting 24 Containers Per Day:
• Safeway at 320 W Century Drive
• Safeway at 2650 NE Hwy 20
• Costco at 2500 Hwy 20 E
• Food 4 Less at 63455 N Hwy 97
• Albertsons at 61155 S HWY 97

A statewide rollout of BottleDrop Redemption Centers was approved by the Oregon State Legislature during the 2013 session based upon success of three pilot redemption centers located in Wood Village, Oregon City and south Salem.

Contingent upon approval from the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, OBRC plans to open four BottleDrop facilities per year over the next 9 years. OBRC is a member-owned, cooperative corporation that acts on behalf of beverage distributors to administer Oregon’s bottle bill; collecting and processing nearly all containers sold and redeemed in Oregon. OBRC counts, sorts, crushes, bales and recycles 1.2 billion containers each year. The entire process is funded and managed by the beverage and grocery industries – at no cost to taxpayers.