NWCC Board Chair Ken Thrasher Responds to Bottle Redemption Temporary Suspension
Image: Reddit
Get bottle returns out of our stores and into redemption centers.
Mayor Wheeler and Commissioner’s Ryan, Rubio, Mapps and Gonzalez- saw with interest the Governor’s suspension of bottle returns at Safeway and Plaid Pantry in the Portland cultural district. Rite Aid in the Pearl District closed Feb 1, 2024 and three Targets earlier due to these same problems, which NWCC pointed out to Senators Lieber and Steiner, and Representative Dexter in the letter format shown below. We pleaded with the Portland Police and OLCC to take similar action to no avail at Rite Aid in the Pearl District, and were told by legislators that not much could be done. With the OBRC sitting on about $63 million estimated annually in unredeemed bottles and cans, and the benefits of high aluminum scrap pricing (see WW article by Nigel Jaquiss), it seems there is plenty of funding to get these dirty needles and fentanyl laced cans and bottles out of stores and into redemption centers. And now we see the OBRC looking at a redemption center in St Johns area so you know they have the money. This should be done for health and sanitation reasons alone, let alone the feeding of drug dealing and use, along with extremely high retail theft at stores. Build redemption sites with this money and don’t let distributors get it back, get cash out of the system, and help businesses and their employees retain their jobs in an already unhealthy business climate. We aren’t asking to eliminate the bottle bill, only reform it.
Thank you, Ken Thrasher, Board Chair NWCC
