LANSING – Following a police bust of a massive Ohio-based smuggling-and-refund ring, State Representatives Kate Ebli (D-Monroe) and Kathy Angerer (D-Dundee) today urged fellow lawmakers to quickly pass House proposals they recently unveiled that will crack down on illegal out-of-state bottle redemption. The practice of illegally redeeming out-of-state bottles and cans in Michigan stores robs the state of much-needed environmental cleanup funds, threatens jobs and hurts businesses.
"Our law enforcement agencies should be applauded for the fine work that led to these arrests and the seizing of half a million dollars in cash," Ebli said. "Each and every out-of-state can or bottle illegally redeemed in Michigan robs our taxpayers of a dime. That adds up to millions of dollars a year that our state loses out on."
On Wednesday, federal, state and local law enforcement agencies broke up a massive ring that smuggled millions of empty cans and bottles from other states and fraudulently refunded them in Michigan. Police said officers recovered $500,000 in cash and arrested 13 people, the Associated Press reported. "Each year, this type of activity defrauds the state of approximately $13 million," Michigan State Police Director Col. Peter Munoz told the AP.
"Funds from bottle returns help pay for important environmental cleanup programs, and our state cannot afford to lose millions of dollars that should go toward protecting our land, air and water," Angerer said. "The plan my colleagues and I announced earlier this month puts a stop to the dime-at-a-time loss that results from this illegal practice."
Michigan soda and beer bottles have a 10-cent deposit that can be redeemed; neighboring states do not. When cans and bottles from Ohio, Indiana and other states are smuggled into Michigan and redeemed, Michigan businesses pay out money that they never collected in the first place. Ultimately, that reduces the unclaimed deposit fund that pays for the state's environmental cleanup programs. This growing problem has caused border businesses to lose sales and lay off workers.
The plan Ebli and Angerer introduced would require that:
- Drink manufacturers use a Universal Product Code or add-on bar code that identifies the container as returnable in Michigan; or
- Reverse vending machine manufacturers upgrade their devices to be able to identify cans and bottles that come from other states.