Why are Michiganders returning fewer bottles and cans for America Recycles Day

Happy America Recycles Day! For this year's observance, I'm re-examining "seeing that Michigan has an 89% can and bottle return rate is encouraging," which I wrote last year. It turns out that's no longer true as WOOD TV8 asked Michiganders are returning fewer bottles and cans. Why?

The value of a dime doesn’t stretch as far as it did in 1976 when the state's bottle deposit law was initiated, but for many Michiganders, returning beverage containers to get their 10 cents back sure adds up.

The anchor said "just over 70% of bottles and cans were returned" last year. To be precise, it was 70.4%, as this graph from Axios Detroit shows.


Tessa Kresch examined how the deposit isn't as much of an incentive as it used to be because of inflation but found a counter-example in Mildred Griffin, who still redeems her deposits. Kresh also examined possible reforms, from streamlining the process to expanding it. What she ignored was the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many retailers stopped accepting can and bottle returns in 2020. As a result, many cans and bottles were thrown away, recycled at curbside, or stashed for future redeeming when conditions returned to normal. I still have cans and bottles to recycle from 2020 in my garage, which I've gradually been returning. One of the reasons is the lack of universal redemption; I can only return cans and bottles to outlets that sell them, so it's inconvenient to redeem store brands or brands only carried at a few chains. Most of the cans and bottles still in my garage fit in those categories.

I'm adding lower can and bottle return rates to the list of behavior changes in 'The Pandemic Made People Worse Drivers,' a driving update. A lot of people just got out of the habit and never got back in. I can't entirely blame the pandemic; the Axios graph shows that return rates had been slipping throughout the 2010s from the mid 90s to ~89 in 2019 before dropping like a rock to the low 70s in 2020, never to recover. As I first wrote in April 2020, the pandemic accelerated existing trends, including this one. A few of the bad behaviors are returning to pre-pandemic levels; I hope bottle returns do, too.

That's a wrap for today's sustainability holiday. Stay tuned for the Sunday entertainment feature, when I plan on examining GRAMMY nominees.