State Legislators say bottle return fraud has increased since stores installed machines to handle bottle returns and it's costing you money.
Reports show that Michigan would have at least $10 million a year more for environmental cleanup if not for people redeeming containers that were bought in other states -- tax dollars that come from your pockets. Now, makers of the machines are working on technology to reject out-of-state cans. Under bipartisan bills pending in the Legislature, each can and bottle sold in the state would have to be marked with a special dot, symbol or other code. Reverse vending machines would then be retrofitted to scan and recognize the dot to ensure that non-Michigan containers get no refund.
