Redemption Revenue

By Jessica McCafferty

Photos provided by Girl Scouts of Plattsburgh/Morrisonville

Growing up in a Bottle Bill region, the concept of areas without deposits on beverage containers seems unusual. Five of the ten states with Returnable Container Acts (RCAs), commonly known as “Bottle Bills,” are in the Northeastern United States. These laws mandate a five-cent deposit on all carbonated soft drinks, beer, malt beverages, wine coolers, and water sold. Deposits apply to containers made of glass, metal, aluminum, steel, and plastic up to one gallon in capacity.

RCAs were implemented by the Department of Environmental Conservation to encourage recycling.Oregon was the first state to enact a bottle bill in 1971, followed by Vermont in 1972. In the late 1970s, Maine, Michigan, Connecticut, and Iowa also adopted similar legislation. The early 1980s saw Massachusetts, New York, Delaware, and California joining the ranks, with Hawaii being the most recent addition in 2002. National conservation studies reveal that states with bottle bills achieve a recycling rate of 60-90 percent, significantly higher than the 33 percent average in states without container deposits, which highlights the effectiveness of RCAs on the environment.

For those who remember the late 1970s and early 1980s, the new deposits were initially met with resistance. They were simply another thing to manage. Often, children were tasked with collecting, cleaning and preparing returnables to earn pocket money. While littering persisted, some people began to see value in discarded containers. However, few considered it a significant profit opportunity. After all, it would take 28,571,429 returnables to make a million dollars, and that’s before taxes.

Pennies for Profit

Over the years several bottle redemption businesses opened in our tri-county area, although some have not endured. It’s easy to observe the customer side of the counter on a busy day, do some mental math, and imagine how simple this business could be. However, it’s more complex than it appears. Redemption centers receive only three and a half cents per container, and strict criteria must be met. The container must be identifiable, not pre-crushed, have its label intact, and in the case of glass be unbroken. If a container doesn’t meet those requirements, the Redemption Center will not receive credit. The recycler needs to identify the product distributor via the UPC barcode to bill for the recycling service. If a redemption center accepts a non-compliant container and credits the customer, they lose eight and a half cents. Similar losses occur when accepting large bags of pre-counted bottles at face value if the count turns out to be inaccurate.

Our local area’s recycler is Tomra, a Norwegian company that is a global leader in recycling innovation. Locally, Tomra accepts collections in two ways. One method involves large plastic bags filled with hand-sorted and counted cans. Tomra leaves a 53-foot tractor-trailer at a redemption center and retrieves it when full. This is an option for smaller redemption centers that process under 500,000 cans per month. Morrisonville Redemption, run by John and Ann McCarty falls into that category. In 2019 John, a retired teacher, purchased the small business located in a converted garage as “something to do in retirement.” The decision made sense. The McCartys lived nearby, the business was established, the house on the property could be rented, and the commute was short. Six years later it’s clear that McCarty’s “retirement” is quite active. The business is open 48 hours a week, closed only on Sunday. Three customers arrived within 15 minutes of our SB interview. McCarty’s brother-in-law was sorting and counting to keep up. It’s a family operation and they prefer to keep it small.

The other collection method involves Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs), commonly seen at grocery stores. Similar machines are used at the Northern Cakes Redemption Center started by Mark Wyand and his family in 1983 when the New York State RCA took effect. Initially they hand-sorted and processed in a small location on Route 3. Since then, they have grown to be the area’s largest redemption center. After purchasing property in Treadwell Mills, Wyand expanded to include a convenience store while maintaining a high volume of returnables. Of the 32 employees, 15 are dedicated handlers -- many unseen by customers. The return counter area is small. One person clears the room and the rest processes returns in the back. Processing on this scale requires space-saving RVM machines, which fill the back room.

“Every returnable is fed through the RVMs,” explained General Manager Zack LaVigne. “They sort and compact everything. The returnable goes in, the machine scans it, compacts it, and places it in the correct bin.” Without these machines, Northern Cakes wouldn’t have the space to handle the volume. Tomra picks up roughly three full tractor-trailer loads of returnables from the location each week.

When asked about the business’s future, LaVigne commented, “It would be nice to see them finally increase the redemption fee. It hasn’t changed in the forty-plus years since the bottle bill was implemented, but labor and processing costs continue to rise.”

Driving Force

Bottle drives have become a popular fundraising method. Despite the low profit margin per container, some redemption centers offer non-profits an extra penny per can, reducing their own profit to support the cause. Donating is a hassle-free way for many to clear out their returnables and support an organization.

Sports teams hold seasonal drives, while Boy and Girl Scouts maintain collection boxes around the community. With these earnings the sports teams might buy uniforms, equipment, or bus rentals to get them to games. The Girl Scouts take an annual trip to Washington DC and the bottle return money is responsible for one third of the cost, each girl collects 20,000 returnables.

Many companies collect staff bottles to support various charities or motivational events. SB’s parent company, The Northeast Group, saves its return money until the holiday season to provide gifts to less fortunate local families. The AMVETS Redemption Center in Keeseville, run by an American Veteran’s group, uses its profits to help local veterans.

As we enter spring cleaning season in May, if you prefer to avoid lines at the redemption center, consider donating your returnables to one of the many local causes.

Morrisonville Redemption Center

1807 NY-228

Morrisonville, NY 12962

518 578-5825

Northern Cakes Redemption Center

1290 Military Turnpike

Plattsburgh, NY 12901

518 563-3665

Jack with Gummi Bear & Abigail Van Buren (Abby) provided by Elmore SPCA

Bottle Drive Celebrity “Bottle Man Jack”

In 2019 local retired Marine Corp veteran John ”Jack” Coste, stepped in to help the Elmore SPCA maintain a collection box at Tails of the Adirondacks. He quickly saw the program’s potential and adopted this fundraising effort, helping it to grow. In June 2024, five years after he started, Jack was celebrating his 89th birthday. His birthday wish? To reach $89,000 in donations by the end of the month. A social media campaign began, and Jack saw an increase in returns. Unfortunately, this also brought unwanted attention to the shelter’s return box, which was raided one Sunday evening. The theft was reported on social media, and the community responded, overwhelming the shelter with returns to compensate for the loss. Not only did Jack reach his goal, he set a new one — to reach a $100,000 goal by the end of 2024 and he met it!

Returnables covered six percent of the shelter’s operating costs that year, all thanks to the man with a goal and a love for animals. This is Jack’s sixth summer “on the job” and as of March his career total is 110,728.90 or 2,214,578 cans. He has no plans to stop. His collection boxes can be found at:

Tails of the Adirondacks

Route 3, Plattsburgh

Penny’s Homestyle Cooking

Tom Miller Road, Plattsburgh

Elmore SPCA Shelter

556 Telegraph Road, Peru

Lucky’s

Irish Settlement Road, Plattsburgh