Medford, Ore. — Oregon has a new bottle deposit law. It means you get 10 cents back for each bottle or can you return for recycling.
It just took effect, but some people are concerned that the law could lead to waste. One incident caught on tape, has even led to a criminal charge.
“I’m getting phone calls from everywhere, and it’s insane,” said Bryce Burtner, whose cell phone has been going off all day — after a simple weekend chore — turned into a viral Facebook post with more than 70,000 views.
“We decided to go take our cans and bottles, and I cleaned my garage, (phone goes off) went got the cans and bottles out, took them down there, ended up spending. Let me get rid of this, I’m sorry.”
That’s right — his trip to the Bottle Drop Redemption Center in Medford is behind the flood of texts and calls. But it wasn’t his deposits that have been sparking conversation.
“This lady came up, tapped my on the shoulder, and said, ‘hey, we should go get some water bottles, empty them out just for the deposit.’ I had no idea what she was talking about it, was really weird. And sure enough, that’s what they’re doing. They’re emptying bottles, and it’s right out of brand new cases of water, and I think there were five cases, and all they were doing was getting ten cents a bottle, and I thought it was a waste of water.”
At first, Burtner thought the pair were abusing government services — buying the water with an Oregon Trail card — to get the deposit. That part of his post sparked heated replies.
“I overstepped one area, and brought up the Oregon Trail card, and I shouldn’t have because I didn’t know that to be the real case,” Burtner said.
But as it turns out, that woman, Tabitha Mobbs, may have stolen the water! Medford police say they got a report from Albertsons that $40 worth of water was taken. They were able to provide a description of Mobbs and her license plate number.
When police tracked her down, she admitted to turning in the bottles for the 10 cent deposit.
Mobbs was cited for theft one and three and arrested on an unrelated warrant.
We did reach out to DHS to ask if similar instances have been reported, using an Oregon Trail card. They told us they couldn’t comment on any cases — as investigations are handled in Salem.
© 2024 KOBI-TV NBC5. All rights reserved unless otherwise stated.