Former Fred Meyer CEO Ken Thrasher on continued bottle bill scrutiny

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- Oregon's bottle bill started in 1971, the first ever in the United States.
It's been credited with keeping millions of tons of recyclables out of landfills and out of the environment, with more than 2 billion containers returned and recycled in 2023.

But recently, Governor Tina Kotek suspended bottle returns at two Southwest Portland stores, the Safeway and the Plaid Pantry at SW 11th and Jefferson. This is due to drugs, crime, homelessness and other issues. Making things worse, Plaid Pantries are open 24-7.

So how can we continue to reap the benefits of returning cans and bottles while reducing the negative impacts?

Ken Thrasher is a former CEO of Fred Meyer stores. He is also board chair of the Northwest Community Conservancy, which focuses on issues in Portland's Pearl District.

In this week's Eye on Northwest Politics, Thrasher explains how the bottle bill should be modified to take bottle returns out of grocery stores due to two specific problems with the current system.

"One, we have bottles that often are dirty and have residue of drugs or needles or fentanyl in them going into stores which endangers employees," he said. "And then we also have the case element coming out to fund drug trafficking and use. We want to see both of those change."

The solution would be redemption sites, where customers would then receive reimbursement in the form of store credit, likely on an EBT card.

More often than not, bottle return sites have machine malfunctions or the lines are too long for convenience. Thrasher believes this can be addressed through better regulation and a more holistic approach.

"The reverse vending machines that have been in many of the retailers do get broken because people put bottles in it and you can't put a bottle in those," he noted. "So it causes a lot of those kinds of problems, but no one's there regulating it. So I think you have to look at that whole distribution system and come up with a plan, but also get it out of the stores because it does create a health hazard."

In 2017, in order to boost redemption rates, the return on cans and bottles went from 5 cents to 10 cents. Thrasher notes whether this made things worse for the situation by increasing the cash incentive.

The bottle bill is run by the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative (OBRC), which includes beverage retailers such as Fred Meyer. Thrasher adds what he thinks OBRC's overall role should be in advocating for bottle bill changes.

"The bottle bill was an environmental bill. It wasn't a social service program when it was first put into place," he said. "It's modified itself to become that. But since I left Fred Meyer, (it) has become a major driver of drug trafficking in our belief based on that value that the person can take the money. So I think we've got to look at how it's used, how it benefits the public, and, if it's going to be a social program, let's define it and create a system that works for everyone."

Further, Thrasher's non-profit represents the interests of residents in the Pearl District. He notes how a Rite Aid store closure in February affected the neighborhood.

Watch the full interview in the video above.