MA Loses $4-6M Per Year Thanks to Fraudulent Recycling

[DeepseekerADS]

MA Loses $4-6M Per Year Thanks to Fraudulent Recycling

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.”

 

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[Uncle Jeff]

MA Loses $4-6M Per Year Thanks to Fraudulent Recycling

OK need to know more to be honest, every industry has its theft and that cost is figured in on the retail end. For example if this is 4 ta 6 million on a 1 billion dollar industry not really that bad, 4 percent.....

 

[rickv14623]

Keeps them out of peoples yards and off the side of the road

 

[onfire]

Bet it didn't take 16 years of education to figure this scam out. ain't America great!!

 

[davest]

should be easy to see trucks with Rhode Island license plates loaded with bottles and cans though. Is it like South of the Border for recycling with the cheezy billboards every mile before the place.

"Chili today, Hot Tamale, turn in your aluminum at Joe Hollies" or sumpin like that?

You would think that the NSA would be able to track those trucks with drones before they crossed the state border though.

 

[Citiboy289]

SO what is the big deal , George and Kramer thought that plan out on Seinfeld 20 years ago

 

[Brian B]

Wonder how many cans don't make it back though to offset that price. I know when I drive through WNY I see cans everywhere. Country, city, and in-between. Even when I vacation in MA being there after a weekend, quite a few of the surrounding people just threw them out in the recycling. Be nice if all states did it, just to keep out the litter, but I honestly don't see a lot of difference trash wise between the bottle states I've been to and the state I live in. I guess people that litter are going to litter, and most people don't.

 

[cazisme]

They put these people in jail for fraud but if the can goes to the garbage dump or is lost oooow the state keeps the money?

 

[EARL51]

Lucky me, as part of my last job I was in charge of redemption. Oh I live and work in MA. Before we got the machines I had to hand handle everything. We didn't sell Pepsi products so we didn't have to redeem them. How many 30 packs did I take in and ask, all beer. Yep until I dumped them half full of Pepsi.. It got even better with the machines. If they were out of state and for some reason wouldn't go through the machine. They would photo copy a sheet of good UPC codes and cut them out and tape to the cans or bottles. A nickel is a lot to some people

 

[Davers]

Lucky me, as part of my last job I was in charge of redemption. Oh I live and work in MA. Before we got the machines I had to hand handle everything. We didn't sell Pepsi products so we didn't have to redeem them. How many 30 packs did I take in and ask, all beer. Yep until I dumped them half full of Pepsi.. It got even better with the machines. If they were out of state and for some reason wouldn't go through the machine. They would photo copy a sheet of good UPC codes and cut them out and tape to the cans or bottles. A nickel is a lot to some people

Now that's "Getting one over on The Man"

 

[Davers]

I always Wondered What stops people from taking Can,s & Bottles into a State that pays a Deposit.

Heck I Started my whole Scrapping ,Mding , Finding Stuff Life , Picking up Coca Cola Bottles out of the Woods Then turning them in for 10 cents a piece when I was 9 or 10.

Davers

 

[cazisme]

i always thought that this scaming and loss of money by the State is Bullshit. Here in California they prosecuted a for bringing in cans from out of State they got like 20 to 30 years in Prison. So tell me how do they know that someone didnt just buy them in California and then take them out of State and then they were being returned? On the other had the State here charges 5 cent deposit on plastic water bottles and cans, money goes into general fund lots of water bottles are burnt lost burried and thrown out, now the state keeps the 5 cents per bottle in the general fund. You take the bottles to recycler you dont get 5 cents a bottle for them you get scrap plastic price recycler gets the 5 cents. Same with cans. Now we assume that 20% go unrecycled so there must be a huge amount of money in the deposit fund not spent but the state puts it in the general fund and says that fraud ie bringing recycleables from out of State is causing the State to lose money? The Politicians are just spending it all from the General fund and *****ing when an person tries to get the most for his cans from out of state.

 

[against the wind]

Lucky me, as part of my last job I was in charge of redemption. Oh I live and work in MA. Before we got the machines I had to hand handle everything. We didn't sell Pepsi products so we didn't have to redeem them. How many 30 packs did I take in and ask, all beer. Yep until I dumped them half full of Pepsi.. It got even better with the machines. If they were out of state and for some reason wouldn't go through the machine. They would photo copy a sheet of good UPC codes and cut them out and tape to the cans or bottles. A nickel is a lot to some people

I worked for NYC Transit for 26 years before retiring earlier this year. It is a civil service job with a decent pension. If you get arrested, a copy of the arrest report goes from NYPD to NYC Transit automatically. We had a guy get caught feeding a can redemption machine with cans that had copies of a Barcode taped to them. Imagine losing a civil service pension for something so stupid.

 

[kcm]

Ok, let me throw a little something into the mix.

As we live in a very small community (more like wilderness), we have (legally) ended up with lots of cans/bottles over the years that say they are redeemable in one of various states, with some states paying more than others. Unfortunately none of the states that pay are anywhere near us. However, if we think we might be taking a trip some time with our trailer, what would be so wrong with taking our load of cans/bottle to a state listed on them??