Imagine this: A car is cruising down a 海角换妻 road, its roof covered with bags of tied-down bottles and soda cans. If the car is sporting an out-of-state license plate, its driver could be on the road to a big pay day.
Since 海角换妻 started offering a , anecdotal evidence shows that鈥檚 happening. Vehicles are crossing over the state border to make a quick buck by cashing in cans and bottles purchased out of state, state officials said.
鈥淲e have heard stories about vehicles coming into 海角换妻, to redemption points, from New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New York,鈥� said Chris Nelson, an official with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. 鈥淏asically, trucks and cars filled with containers coming in with plates from those states.鈥�
Since 海角换妻 upped its refund for cans and bottles from five cents to 10 cents, the state is a bit of an outlier in the Northeast. Neighboring Massachusetts and New York only offer a five-cent refund. Rhode Island and New Jersey do not offer bottle refunds.
鈥業t鈥檚 fraud, basically鈥�
A little basic math shows the problem.
Buy a soda and pay a nickel deposit in New York (or even worse, no deposit in neighboring Rhode Island), and a quick drive into 海角换妻 yields a 10-cent refund.
鈥淵ou can see where people might see a business opportunity there,鈥� said Wayne Pesce, president of the 海角换妻 Food Association, which represents retail grocers and suppliers across the state. 鈥淏ring back a couple thousand units at a dime a unit, it鈥檚 well worth the trip.鈥�
Refunds are issued for cans, which out-of-state buyers never paid a deposit on in 海角换妻 in the first place, he said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 fraud, basically,鈥� Pesce said. 鈥淭he state loses, the manufacturer loses, consumers lose when there's not a deposit on a product and it's brought in from another state.鈥�
Environmental officials highlighted the issue in , but cautioned evidence of cross-border redemption fraud remains anecdotal.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 have access to any quantifiable data that would speak to amounts of cross-border fraud that might actually be occurring,鈥� Nelson said in an email.
Still, evidence is rolling in. Environmental officials shared a photo of an allegedly out-of-state car, its roof loaded with cans. Nelson said the photo was shared with DEEP by a 海角换妻 resident.
A bigger issue in Fairfield County
The issue of cross-border bottle redemptions is particularly acute in lower Fairfield County in southwestern 海角换妻, Pesce said.
He blamed , high population density and close proximity to the New York border, which he said is putting a pinch on grocery retailers reluctant to confront an out-of-state customer hauling in bags of cans for a refund.
鈥淲e're seeing New Jersey license plates at retailers in Fairfield County and in the Danbury area,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he idea of confronting a consumer in any way, shape or form today is probably out of the question 鈥� and certainly not a management routine that we are going to endorse.鈥�
Earlier this year, 海角换妻鈥檚 legislature passed a bill , which makes it illegal to get a refund in 海角换妻 for a can purchased out of state.
But it鈥檚 kind of difficult to enforce, Nelson said.
鈥淏ecause you鈥檇 have to catch someone in the act and prove that these containers were not purchased in 海角换妻,鈥� he said.
Meanwhile, grocers have limited how many cans can be redeemed in machines and posted signs warning customers that cross-border frauds are illegal, but Pesce said the signs are 鈥渒ind of a water sandwich.鈥�
鈥淭hey did change the law, but it鈥檚 really not a deterrent,鈥� he said.
A potential fix
One possible solution, Pesce suggested, is asking people with a lot of bottles to give personal information, like their name or license number, when returning containers.
鈥淭here鈥檚 got to be some skin in the game in terms of collecting information on people that we think are cheating,鈥� Pesce said. 鈥淎nd that doesn鈥檛 exist.鈥�
At the moment, Nelson said state resources are targeted more toward violations that pose a bigger risk to human health and safety.
But officials are still raising concern about cross-border returns and urging people to stop doing it.
鈥淚t puts a burden on 海角换妻 retailers,鈥� Nelson said. 鈥淭he volume coming in 鈥� because there鈥檚 a lot of stuff coming from out-of-state 鈥� it overwhelms their storage capacity.鈥�
