Starting April 1, consumers will get 10 cents for each beverage container they recycle at a return center — the first increase in the Oregon Bottle Bill’s 45-year history, according to a news release from the Oregon Liquor Control Commission.

At their monthly meeting Friday, OLCC commissioners determined that the beverage return rates for 2014 and 2015 were 68.26 and 64.45 percent. Rates have been around 70 percent since 2012. According to House Bill 3145 passed in 2011, an extension of Oregon’s Bottle Bill, if redemption rates fall below 80 percent for two consecutive years, the deposit must increase from 5 cents to 10 cents, but not before 2017.

Statewide data is collected from return centers and beverage distributors to determine the return rates.

The commission has already begun to work with product managers, beverage distributors and retailers on issues such as labeling changes, selling remaining 5-cent bottles, signs at stores and information for store clerks so they can educate customers on the change, the release states.

The commission will also put together an advisory committee to get industry members discussing how best to make the transition, according to Christie Scott, the OLCC’s alcohol programs spokeswoman.

“I don’t know that there will be any new rules put in place,” Scott said, “but the committee will work to bring (beverage distribution industry members) together to find consensus on what’s the best way to make sure that retailers, consumers and industry members know that this is happening in the most effective way possible.”

Bend’s bottle return center accepts up to 350 containers per person per day, meaning that with the increase, the most a person can receive in one trip will go from $17.50 to $35. The center processes about 1.8 million beverage containers per month, according to Cherilyn Bertges of the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative. Bertges said last month she anticipates the deposit increase will help grow this number.

Oregon’s Bottle Bill, the first of its kind in the nation, was introduced in 1971 to give consumers an incentive to return their beverage containers to be recycled rather than littering.

— Reporter: 541-633-2108,

cduffy@bendbulletin.com