Bottle Drop

I had just stopped in and the first thing I noticed was how miserable and under staffed the employees were. The machines are outdated and makes no sense to come here as I can go to Fred Meyers and deal with the same machines.
This place is not worth coming too, go to either Gresham Bottle drop or a place where the employees don’t look miserable and aren’t under staffed and the machines are updated. Last time I come to this location!

After a second trip, I’ve updated my rating. This time, the place was properly staffed and while it was busy, the employees were friendly and helpful and doing the best they could to keep things moving. Obviously staffing makes all the difference. Kudos to the employees working at this location. The representative working with me this time made the process easy.

I am always complaining about the process of returning bottles and cans for the deposit back. It is such a waste of effort and time for the return that I’d normally just put it on the curb for homeless people to pick through. Remember back in the day, when you could take your cans to the grocery store and someone hand counts your return? I miss those days… well, apparently there’s something similar now! How long has this existed?!
Bottle Drop! You could either manually return your cans with their machines (which I hate doing), similar to going to the grocery store. However, the bottles and cans get crushed and sent to the back on a conveyor belt – no waiting for an attending to come shake the bins down or change the bins when they get full. The other options are hand counting for less than 50 items or signing up for an EZ drop account. First two bags are free and $ 0.15 per/​bag after the initial two. You stick the barcode on your bag, fill it with bottles/​cans, and drop it off. Simple! You could only drop two bags off a day and the return goes into your account, which you then use the pay station to withdrawal your money. Up to $ 99.95 withdrawal a day. Better than the $ 7.60/day cap at the stores.
The workers are so friendly and helpful. As soon as I walk in with my bags, someone comes by to grab them from me. If you have more than two bags, you could set up an appointment between 9am-​noon and drop off up to ten bags. I definitely like the Wood Village location better than the Glisan Bottle Drop, its madness over there.

Update: Two weeks later they have properly credited my balance online. So all is good.

I always thought returning cans and bottles like this would be a huge hassle, so I waited forever to bring in like a dozen large black garbage bags full of cans and bottles… I should not have waited. It was quick and easy. A big garbage bag full of cans brings 5 or 6 dollars depending on how full it is.
1. You bring in your cans and bottles, wait maybe 5 or 10 minutes in line for a machine.
2. Step up, then start pumping them in.
3. Ta-​da! That’s pretty much it.
The machine spits out a small paper with a barcode and a dollar amount when you are done. You take it over to what looks like an ATM, scan the barcode, get your cash… or add it to your BottleDrop account.
There is a clean-​up station to wash your hands, then off you go!
My 7 year-​old son and I have made this a monthly ritual, with a trip to Dairy Queen after as a reward for all of our «hard work.» Lol.
CAUTION: wear work clothes, and yes, the place stinks like old beer and coca-​cola. Remember, it is for a good cause and some extra cash.

Easy way to take care of recycling. Great staff as well. Smells horrible of course, but is the best bet that I have found around Gresham.

EZ Drop system is the fastest, easiest, cleanest, most convenient way of returning bottles & cans for redemption.
All customers should request a BottleDrop card which is a redemption account that easily credits your card for the bottles/​cans returned at an EZ Drop system. This saves time waiting in line for the vending machine or having a customer service associate hand count them for you.
Three easy steps to the EZ Drop system:
1. Fill a green EZ Drop bag (up to 20lbs) with Oregon redeemable containers
2. Place a sticker (with your account # stamped on it) on the bag
3. Drop the bag (s), up to two per day, at any Bottle Drop location (Wood Village, South Salem & Oregon City)
Your bags will be processed & a refund will be credited to your account within 48 hours. You can redeem your balance for cash at any Bottle Drop kiosk or pay station inside the redemption center at any time. Well, actually only from 9am-​7pm daily.
The vending machine (up to 200 bottles & cans) or hand counting (up to 50) are still convenient ways to redeem at Bottle Drop but why waste your time when EZ Drop is readily available?