The Midwest Independent Retailers Association (MIRA), a multi-state trade association representing thousands of retailers operating in Michigan and surrounding states, today released the findings of a new member survey showing strong retailer support for ending the practice of requiring bottle and can returns at grocery stores through an overhaul of Michigan’s 50-year-old Bottle Bill.
The survey, which gathered responses from approximately 45 retail industry representatives, found significant concerns regarding sanitation and food-safety, increased operational costs, customer complaints, and the need for reforms aimed at ending the treatment of grocery stores as bottle and can recycling centers.
Michigan is an outlier as one of only a handful of states to have a Bottle Bill in place, with no other state doing so in more than two decades.
Key findings from the MIRA member survey include:
- 90% of retailers support moving bottle returns out of stores, including 86% who support the change very strongly.
- 97% expressed concern about the cleanliness of in-store bottle returns. A key issue raised by retailers is the requirement that returned containers be brought into food stores that otherwise maintain strict food-safety standards.
- 93% cited sanitation concerns related to handling returned containers.
Bill Wild, CEO of MIRA, described the concerns of Michigan food retailers:
“The state looks the other way as it requires consumers to take these unsanitary bottles and cans back to the grocery stores where are members are trying to sell fresh fruits and vegetables, cut fresh meats, and deliver safe consumable goods. We now live in a world where food recalls are dominating the news and it just doesn’t make any sense that 50 years later, we are bringing what amounts to trash, into grocery stores on a daily basis..” Wild said.
Previously reported data showed a rapid decline in consumer participation with the Bottle Bill, dropping from nearly 100% to only 70% since the pandemic.
Retailer data also reported the negative impacts on customers and store operations:
- 88% reported that customers complain about in-store bottle returns.
- 57% said the Bottle Bill contributes to higher grocery costs at a time when inflation continues to pressure family budgets.
- 71% said customers often discard non-accepted containers rather than returning them to the store where they were purchased.
One survey respondent described the costs, labor, and cleanliness concerns firsthand in a verbatim response to the survey.
“The cost to keep machines clean and the maintenance to keep them running smoothly, plus the added expense and space required to hold large bins of dirty cans and bottles, means we must constantly manage pest control and cleanliness concerns.”
For 50 years, retailers have served on the front lines of Michigan’s bottle deposit system.
- Survey results indicate that many believe the program no longer reflects modern recycling practices, with 84% of respondents describing the Bottle Bill as outdated.
- Notably, only nine other states maintain bottle deposit systems, and no state has enacted a new bottle bill since Hawaii adopted its program in 2002.
The survey of Michigan retailers found little support for expanding the types of containers eligible for return. Instead, retailers feel that curbside recycling, usually done along with household trash, is the best way to go.
- 97% of respondents said that expanding the Bottle Bill would increase negative burdens on both food stores and consumers.
- 88% of MIRA membership respondents said that modern curbside recycling or drop off centers should replace the Bottle Bill.
“Ending the bottle deposit program and replacing it with improved curbside recycling programs, or even community drop off centers, will increase recycling rates, save money for consumers, and get dirty bottles and cans out of our food stores,” said Wild.
MIRA urges legislators to not support any legislation that expands the current Bottle Bill and support sunsetting the current law in two years.
This will give the state time to implement a modern system that creates cleaner, safer, food stores, reduces costs that hurt Michigan families and result in an easier recycling system for all.
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