Oregon's landmark bottle redemption law may change due to concerns over drugs and homelessness

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Monica Truax has lived in her Portland home since 1992, on a cul-de-sac she described as a close-knit community. But since a bottle redemption center opened next door several years ago, her block has struggled with drug dealing, garbage and fights in the middle of the night, she said.

“It's just all completely changed,” she said. “But the people are all still here, you know, all the residents are here still, and still raising their families.”

After more than five decades, Oregon's first-in-the-nation “bottle bill” — now replicated in nine other states — faces a potential overhaul, with lawmakers considering new time restrictions on bottle redemption sites that some say have become magnets for drugs and homelessness.

The trailblazing law to reduce littering by incentivizing recycling helped cement the state's reputation as a leader in the emerging environmental movement. It has also become a financial security net for many, including those experiencing homelessness.

The legislation echoes calls to modernize the bottle bill, with some saying changes are needed to address unintended consequences.

“He did not envision this,” Truax said of former Oregon Gov. Tom McCall, who signed the bottle bill into law. “It’s just a mess.”

Consumers originally paid a 5-cent deposit on each eligible bottle or can, then collected the deposit when they redeemed the empty container at a retailer, such as a supermarket or convenience store.

Over the years, the program has expanded accepted containers and increased the deposit to 10 cents. Twenty-seven centers exclusively for returns have been opened across the state.

California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Vermont and the U.S. territory of Guam followed Oregon in adopting the concept, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In Oregon, people can sign up for accounts in which their refunds are deposited or choose cash redemptions. Some stores count containers by hand. Other sites have counting machines or areas where account holders can drop off bags of containers.

The deposit has not kept pace with inflation — 5 cents in 1971 would be equal to 40 cents today, according to the Consumer Price Index’s inflation calculator — but many low-income residents rely on it.

Stores must accept container returns when they are open, and owners of all-night convenience stores, particularly in Portland, say they're concerned about employee safety.

In an op-ed for The Oregonian/OregonLive last year, Jonathan Polonsky, president and CEO of the Plaid Pantry chain of convenience stores, wrote that fentanyl was selling for less than $1 a pill and “a small number of cans add up to enough to buy drugs.”

People redeeming containers at night "may be belligerent and intimidating, presenting a major safety risk to our store associates who have no choice under Oregon’s Bottle Bill to handle returns at that hour,” he wrote.

Truax, who lives with her husband in northeast Portland, said homeless encampments and people relieving themselves in public were among the many things she had witnessed on her block.

“I've seen it all,” she said, describing the scourge of fentanyl as “the cherry on the sundae.”

“It's just sad," she added.

At the bottle redemption center near Truax's home, Chris Grass waited with his father and girlfriend in the long line outside the door. They each redeemed the maximum amount of 350 containers per person per day for $105 in cash to help pay for gas and provide some extra money for things like cigarettes and coffee while he's unemployed, he said.

“A lot of people don't like people that go out and can,” he said. “But it's actually good for the environment."

In 2023, roughly 87% of eligible containers were returned for redemption, according to the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission. That was the highest rate in the nation that year, according to the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative, which operates the bottle bill program on behalf of its distributor members.

The bill being considered by lawmakers would allow stores across the state to refuse container returns after 8 p.m.

In Portland, it would allow for “alternative” redemption sites, including possible mobile sites such as trucks that travel to different neighborhoods. Nonprofits would run the alternative sites for people who redeem containers every day, relieving the pressure on retailers, particularly downtown.

Stores in an area with an alternative drop site could limit or refuse hand-counted returns, with convenience stores specifically allowed to stop them at 6 p.m.

The proposal is supported by retailers as well as groups like the Ground Score Association, whose members include “canners” and waste pickers who collect containers for income. The association operates a Portland redemption center under a bridge called The People's Depot that processes some 38,000 containers daily, according to its website.

It has pushed back against claims that the bottle bill fuels the fentanyl crisis and says most people redeeming bottles need the money to make ends meet.

“Since becoming manager of The People's Depot, I'm learning how polarizing The Oregon Bottle Bill is,” the depot's operational manager Kristofer Brown said in written testimony supporting the bill.

Unlike in some other states, Oregon’s bottle bill program is run by the private beverage industry rather than state government. The Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative retains unredeemed deposits, which topped $30 million in 2019, according to a 2020 state audit of the bottle bill.

The audit recommended several changes, including having some or all unredeemed deposits go to the state to help fund environmental programs.

Consolidated Oregon Indivisible Network, a progressive advocacy group, said in written testimony supporting the bill that “money is piling up in the bottle deposit fund” and called for another government audit.

The OBRC says unredeemed refunds go toward operating expenses for the beverage container redemption system.

The Legislature has until late June to approve the bill, which received overwhelming approval in the Senate and is now in the House.

A person holds a bag of used beverage containers while waiting outside the Glisan BottleDrop Redemption Center on Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Monica Truax speaks during an interview with the Associated Press on Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

People wait in line outside the Glisan BottleDrop Redemption Center on Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Chris Grass, left, and his father Todd Grass, right, prepare to take over 1,000 used beverage containers inside the Glisan BottleDrop Redemption Center on Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Used beverage containers are seen in a bag outside the Glisan BottleDrop Redemption Center on Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal agents carrying out immigration arrests in Minnesota's Twin Cities region already shaken by the fatal shooting of a woman rammed the door of one home Sunday and pushed their way inside, part of what the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest enforcement operation ever.

In a dramatic scene similar to those playing out across Minneapolis, agents captured a man in the home just minutes after pepper spraying protesters outside who had confronted the heavily armed federal agents. Along the residential street, protesters honked car horns, banged on drums and blew whistles in attempts to disrupt the operation.

Video of the clash taken by The Associated Press showed some agents pushing back protesters while a distraught woman later emerged from the house with a document that federal agents presented to arrest the man. Signed by an immigration officer, the document — unlike a warrant signed by a judge — does not authorize forced entry into a private residence. A warrant signed by an immigration officer only authorizes arrest in a public area.

Immigrant advocacy groups have conducted extensive “know-your-rights” campaigns urging people not to open their doors unless agents have a court order signed by a judge.

But within minutes of ramming the door in a neighborhood filled with single-family homes, the handcuffed man was led away.

More than 2,000 immigration arrests have been made in Minnesota since the enforcement operation began at the beginning of December, said Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News on Sunday that the administration would send additional federal agents to Minnesota to protect immigration officers and continue enforcement.

The Twin Cities — the latest target in President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign — is bracing for what is next after 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by an immigration officer on Wednesday.

“We’re seeing a lot of immigration enforcement across Minneapolis and across the state, federal agents just swarming around our neighborhoods,” said Jason Chavez, a Minneapolis city councilmember. “They’ve definitely been out here.”

Chavez, the son of Mexican immigrants who represents an area with a growing immigrant population, said he is closely monitoring information from chat groups about where residents are seeing agents operating.

People holding whistles positioned themselves in freezing temperatures on street corners Sunday in the neighborhood where Good was killed, watching for any signs of federal agents.

More than 20,000 people have taken part in a variety of trainings to become “observers” of enforcement activities in Minnesota since the 2024 election, said Luis Argueta, a spokesperson for Unidos MN, a local human rights organization .

“It’s a role that people choose to take on voluntarily, because they choose to look out for their neighbors,” Argueta said.

The protests have been largely peaceful, but residents remained anxious. On Monday, Minneapolis public schools will start offering remote learning for the next month in response to concerns that children might feel unsafe venturing out while tensions remain high.

Many schools closed last week after Good’s shooting and the upheaval that followed.

While the enforcement activity continues, two of the state’s leading Democrats said that the investigation into Good's shooting death should not be overseen solely by the federal government.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith said in separate interviews Sunday that state authorities should be included in the investigation because the federal government has already made clear what it believes happened.

“How can we trust the federal government to do an objective, unbiased investigation, without prejudice, when at the beginning of that investigation they have already announced exactly what they saw — what they think happened," Smith said on ABC’s "This Week."

The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents and that Good had “weaponized” her vehicle.

Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defended the officer on Fox News Channel’s “The Sunday Briefing.”

"That law enforcement officer had milliseconds, if not short time to make a decision to save his life and his other fellow agents,” he said.

Lyons also said the administration’s enforcement operations in Minnesota wouldn't be needed “if local jurisdictions worked with us to turn over these criminally illegal aliens once they are already considered a public safety threat by the locals.”

The killing of Good by an ICE officer and the shooting of two people by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, led to dozens of protests in cities across the country over the weekend, including New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Oakland, California.

Contributing were Associated Press journalists Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis; Thomas Strong in Washington; Bill Barrow in Atlanta; Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio.

A woman gets into an altercation with a federal immigration officer as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A federal immigration officer deploys pepper spray as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A family member, center, reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Bystanders are treated after being pepper sprayed as federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A family member reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Federal agents look on after detaining a person during a patrol in Minneapolis, Minn., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Bystanders react after a man was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)

People stand near a memorial at the site where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)

A man looks out of a car window after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Border Patrol agents detain a man, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

People shout toward Border Patrol agents making an arrest, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

Demonstrators protest outside the White House in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey holds a news conference on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)

Protesters react as they visit a makeshift memorial during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)