With the passage of Senate Bill 247, effective September 29, 2019, all hard seltzers and kombuchas are included in the Bottle Bill and have an Oregon 10-cent refund value if in metal, glass, or plastic bottles or cans in sizes 3 liters or less. Manufacturers have until January 1, 2021 to ensure that OR 10¢
is clearly indicated on hard seltzer and kombucha containers. Even if the containers do not have OR 10¢ on them, a deposit may be charged on them and they are redeemable.
Effective
January 1, 2020, ORS 459A.718 requires all distributors and importers to
register the beverage containers they sold and redeemed in Oregon with the
Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative (OBRC) every calendar year. A letter explaining the change was mailed to many businesses that
have the ability to sell beverages that have an Oregon refund value.
At a special meeting in January 2020, the OLCC initiated
rulemaking to rescind rules adopted at their December 2019 meeting that
narrowed the definitions of “milk” and “plant-based milk” to give the industry
time to come up with a workable solution for accepting these empty
containers. Until the new rulemaking is complete, manufacturers,
retailers, and redemption centers may continue to apply the prior (pre-December
2019) definition of milk to beverage containers, which includes cultured milk
such as kefir and buttermilk.
You can sign up for email alerts to be
notified about rule changes and other changes to the Bottle Bill by clicking this link.