advocacy group, told The Washington Times. “In contrast, when handling fees remain stagnant with respect to inflation, redemption centers suffer from being underpaid for their services.”
Several reports have shown bottle redemption centers closing in recent years as states prove reluctant to hike deposit fees and subsidies: This last document asked state lawmakers to divert budget surplus funds to the California Refund Value program, claiming more centers will close by the end of the year if handling fees don’t increase.
Billing itself as the oldest and most successful bottle redemption program in the U.S., Ms. Hougton’s plastic recycling company supports a bill pending in the California Legislature that would add large fruit and vegetable juice bottles to the program. It also would increase potential profits for redemption centers by recalculating the subsidy formula.
The Empire State has not increased the handling fee it pays to redemption centers since bumping it from 2 to 35 cents a bottle in 2009, said Chris Lonneville, the founding director of the Warsaw Redemption Center in rural western New York.