The state of Massachusetts is experiencing millions of dollars in loss thanks to entrepreneurial can and bottle collectors from other states carpetbagging in their wares to turn them in for $0.05 a piece. According to CBS Local Boston, trucks from Rhode Island are traveling into Massachusetts loaded up with bottles and cans, which bring no return in Rhode Island, and handing them over for cash in the Bay State. According to environmental consultant Kevin Dietly of Northbridge Environmental in Westford, “We estimate that something like 6-8% of all returns that come back each year are fraudulent. That probably costs the commonwealth between four and six million dollars a year.”
It can cost $25,000 for illegal redemptions. Gregg Cooper of the recycling programs at the Department of Environment Protection says, “The distributors need to be actively involved in identifying their products, such as putting an extended bar code on their containers to make sure reverse vending machines do not read out of state containers.”