Bottle & can return locations in Maine

Maine has these refunds:

• At least 5¢ for most cans and bottles
• At least 15¢ for wine and liquor bottles bigger than 50 ml
• No more than 5¢ for tiny wine and liquor bottles (50 ml or less)

Almost every drink in a sealed glass, metal or plastic container of 4 liters or less. That includes beer, wine, liquor, hard cider, soda, water, juice, tea and sports drinks.

Not covered: milk and dairy drinks, and plain (unflavored) rice milk and soy milk.

A store can set these limits:

• It can cap returns at 240 containers per person per day (or a higher number).
• It can stop taking returns for up to 3 hours a day, if it posts those hours.

Not always. Stores of 5,000 sq ft or more must take back empty, clean, unbroken containers and pay cash. But they can skip this if they have a written deal with a redemption center within 10 miles by road (or the closest one, if none is that close). Smaller stores do not have to take returns under this rule. That is why we only list redemption centers and CLYNK bag drops in Maine.

Maine's bottle bill (Maine Revised Statutes Title 38, chapter 33, §§ 3101 to 3119). Maine DEP runs it.

Read the full law