Lawmakers warn of alleged organized fraud in state bottle-deposit system

An extended committee exchange on item 11, the state's bottle-deposit program, centered on claims that processors and redemption centers are being targeted by organized out-of-state redeemers and that the program's economics are under severe stress.

Ken Reinke told the committee that processors have "paid 6,500,000.0 over their, their redemption rate they collected" and that the program's "redemption rate went from roughly 70 some odd percent to a 123%." He said there was "a huge organized fraud campaign going on from people coming from New York into Connecticut and from elsewhere to, redeem bottles that were not sold in Connecticut," and added that the problem is the biggest financial issue facing businesses in the state this session.

Representative O'Day and others voiced support for acting on the bottle bill; Representative Schizke urged caution and said there were "other ways to handle this problem" and that the industry could take steps to police redemption without new legislation. The chair reminded members that the items remain at the "concepts" stage and would be the subject of future committee work.

No final legislative action on the bottle-deposit law was taken in this concepts session beyond the committee's decision to raise the item for further consideration and schedule a public hearing. Figures and allegations cited in committee were statements by attendees and have not been independently verified by the committee record.