By Mike Kruzman /news@whmi.com


The State of Michigan will again be allowing bottle returns later this month.

The Michigan Treasury Department issued a notice Monday mandating that some retailers re-open their bottle return facilities and resume the collection of containers and refund of deposits, effective June 15th. This applies to retailers with facilities located at the front of the store or housed in a separate area that use machines and require minimal or no person-to-person contact.

Retailers must comply with state-mandated safety protocols and may take additional steps that include: Limiting the refund amount to $25 per individual per day; establish special or limited hours of operation for returns; limit the number of available machines; periodically close bottle deposit facilities as needed for cleaning and supply management; and implement other procedures and restrictions deemed necessary for promoting safety and efficiency.

Retailers during this initial phase must limit their weekly volume of returned containers to no more than 140% of their average collection volume from April and May of 2019.

Consumers also have the option of recycling their returnables if they choose not to return them to a bottle deposit redemption facility.