This is the case in most of Oregon; it is merchants who collect the deposit, and the same merchant must collect recyclables and return the deposit to customers.

This is the case in most of Oregon; it is merchants who collect the deposit, and the same merchant must collect recyclables and return the deposit to customers. I say "most of" because retailers in Clackamas County lobbied successfully to abolish the merchant collection requirement, and the county now provides recycling centers. Ostensibly it was to reduce the burden on merchants, but there was a subtext that customers and retailers alike didn't enjoy the constant presence of homeless at the many retailers that provided recycling machines.