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Comment by lolsal | Hacker News Reader

> I wouldn’t be surprised if there is some spillover from Washington or California, but I doubt that it can be an incredibly high percentage.

Why do you doubt that it could be a high percentage? A huge number of folks live in Vancouver across the OR/WA border and commute into Portland every day, and do their shopping in OR for the lack of sales tax.

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The border cities of Washington, Clark county (Vancouver) and Tri Cities, only account for ~600k people compared to ~2M in Portland and 4M in Oregon overall [some quick searching]. I would expect the fraud rate coming from Washington's central and northern cities to be much lower. By headcount alone, the Washington contribution is maybe conservatively 25%, even if you think those urban areas are recycling at a higher rate than Oregon's rural areas.

You just said it. They do their shopping in Oregon. So they probably buy the bottles their tax free. Save ten cents on tax, spend it on deposit. It's a wash to the consumer.

> You just said it. They do their shopping in Oregon.

Which makes it quite convenient for them to “return” bottles gathered from other people who shop near where the returner loves in WA to Oregon for the deposit.

You seem to be only considering people returning bottles purchased for their own consumption.

No, that's not how it works. If you buy cans/bottles in Oregon, you get the bottle tax. Separate from the sales tax.

I think you're misunderstanding parent - Oregon has no sales tax, so the price of cans/bottles will be about the same as Washington, which has no deposit.

Many people in Oregon just give away their cans to the street. I imagine this is true in Washington as well. If a person collects free cans in Washington, where they're worth less, and brings them to Oregon for a higher return, then they would be gaming the system.

Yes, of course, but there would not be a lot of them.

The lack of sales tax doesn't really affect whether or not they buy considerable number of cans/bottles in OR - I just meant to say that it is _very common_ for Vancouver folks to shop for general goods after work in Portland, or drive into Portland area on the weekends. If they are saving bottles/cans it's very likely not an extra trip for them.

It's 10 cents a bottle. Are we really at the point in our society where someone is simultaneously commuting from Vancouver yet is still in such a precarious situation that it's worth it to collect a bunch of bottles to trade them in?

100 bottles is only $10! Think about the amount of effort required for this

A few years back, California's recycling rate for plastic was 104%[0]. It can get pretty high because recyclers, not just individuals, can go across the border for a better rate.

[0]: http://articles.latimes.com/2012/oct/07/local/la-me-can-frau...

Sure, but how many are going to drag there bottles across the border for a few cents, dollars at the most?

You are seriously underestimating the amount of money involved, and what it means to the folks that do it. My neighbor recycles trash bags full of cans at a time and nets 20-40 bucks a bag. He does this a couple of times a month. For very little effort he's making an extra hour or two worth of wages just for taking a bag into recycling. It's extremely minimal work since he does it on his way to/from work, and absolutely a non-trivial gain for him.

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