Michigan independent grocers want to change state bottle deposit law

When people bring cans and bottles back for recycling, they often still have a little liquid inside. They're sticky, they're smelly, especially in the summer, and Michigan independent grocers say they don't want to keep taking them back. 

"The biggest problem is the returnable, because when you return them, they're dirty; we find pests in them sometimes, we find rodents in the containers, and we have to stack them all in the back next to our fresh groceries," said John Denha, owner of Savon Food in Detroit. 

Denha said it's also pricey for the grocers themselves.

"It's costing us more money to spend on pest control, costing us more money to handle them, costing us money to maintain the machine," he said. 

Denha and the Midwest Independent Retailers Association are calling for Michigan's current bottle return law, enacted in 1976, to be phased out. They suggest that, instead of customers bringing these bottles back into grocery stores, they should be recycled through curbside recycling programs or standalone recycling centers. 

"Let them get receipts from the state, and they can come here and redeem them; at least then we wouldn't have to deal with the bottles," Denha said. 

Denha said that expanding the bottle return law wouldn't help either. 

"The way the state wants to do this — they want to add water to this, so for example, a 40-pack of water would cost an extra $4 off their grocery bill ... so now imagine $4 just to pay a deposit? They could buy food," he said. 

Denha said he feels like lawmakers are listening, but he and other independent grocers are waiting to see some change.