Customers recycle their bottles and cans at the BottleDrop in Bend.

BottleDrop is planning to open a new express facility at Fred Meyer in Bend. BottleDrop account holders will be able to drop off their green bags at the site.

Eric Chambers, external relations director for BottleDrop, said the BottleDrop Express site will have a drop door similar to the one at the main redemption center in Bend.

Customers will be able to scan their BottleDrop cards and drop off their green and blue bags.

The BottleDrop facility in Bend, located on the corner of Second Street and Hawthorne Avenue, has experienced increased volume in recent weeks and the new drop site could help to address that.

“The express site will add some much-needed additional capacity to the system,” said Chambers.

The site at Fred Meyer is expected to open in the fall, said Chambers.

July is typically one of the busiest months of the year for the redemption center, said Chambers, and this year is no exception. On top of the usual volume, the center also saw a spike in recent days due to last month’s heat wave, as many customers stayed home and pushed back their normal recycling routine.

“In Bend, we’ve been able to haul extra loads of Green Bags from the BottleDrop facility there to our processing facility in Redmond, which will help field some of the increased volume,” said Chambers. “We’ve also brought in staff from other parts of our network to help run additional capacity through the Bend BottleDrop facility.”