OAR 845-020-0035: When Dealer Not Required to Accept Containers

(1) The Commission does not interpret ORS 459A.710 to require a dealer to accept an empty beverage container, if: (a) The area of the business occupies a total enclosed space of 5,000 or more square feet in a single location and has not offered the kind of beverage for sale within the past six months; (b) The area of the business occupies a total enclosed space of less than 5,000 square feet in a single location and has not offered the kind, size, and brand of beverage for sale within the past six months; (c) The dealer has reasonable grounds to believe the beverage was sold at retail outside Oregon; (d) The dealer has reasonable grounds to believe that the container was obtained from or through a distributor without paying the refund value. The primary goal of this subsection is to prevent distributors, recyclers or others from putting containers through the refund/return system more than once without paying the refund value; or (e) The dealer has reasonable grounds to believe that the container has already been redeemed, such as through a reverse vending process. (2) Dealers must not use this rule to frustrate the requirement of the Beverage Container Act that requires dealers to accept return of beverage containers. If a person attempts to return a fewer number of redeemable beverage containers than the number stated in (4) below, the dealer must accept those containers. A dealer is not prohibited from accepting more beverage containers than the applicable amount. (3) Dealers must post a notice about the requirement to accept beverage container returns, provided to the dealer by the Commission, in each area where beverage containers are received. The notice must be clearly visible to customers returning containers. Dealers may copy the provided notice, but may not modify it.