BANGOR, Maine — Maine lawmakers passed an emergency bill increasing the processing fee redemption centers gain their money by one cent, but with minimum wage steadily increasing, redemption store owners in Bangor said they're struggling to pay their employees.
General manager of Damon's Beverage and Redemption David Mackson opened the store in November 2016, and wages are much higher than they used to be.
"Since they’ve started the pay increases of minimum wage, we’ve doubled in labor," Mackson said.
Mackson said they're not making enough money from processing cans, bottles, and glass that Mainers recycle, and his payout to employees outweighs the money his business makes.
According to Mackson, handling fees that redemption centers have to pay have gone up, but processing fees that they receive as revenue have stayed the same.
Handling fees and the increases in wages create a coupled issue.
Owner of Ohio St. Redemption Center Matthew Willette says minimum wage is going up again next year.
The state Department of Labor reported that Maine's minimum wage will be $14.15 starting Jan. 1, 2024 — increasing by $0.35.
"We’re not getting any more money, and I’m breaking even just about right now," Willette said.
Willette is close to hitting a financial deficit. He said he used some of his own money to cover some of his business costs and to keep his doors open.
Mackson and Willette said processing fees are controlled by the state, and they have no control over how much they get paid per bottle that they process.
Mackson said redemption centers are expected to pay their employees more, to pay the people who drop off recycled bottles and containers, and cover increased handling fees while simultaneously seeing no increase or fluctuation in how much money they get back for completing the job.
"We pay people out the same that they get in, and we get paid what we’re told," Mackson said.
Mackson said he lost a lot of employees after changing locations in March 2022. Luckily, he didn't have to lay off a lot of workers. But with high wages, he isn't hiring more workers.
A smaller staff means a heavier workload. Mackson said the business has invested in assisted self-service machines to make processing more efficient and give his staff some relief.
"We have our combo machines where aluminum and plastic — the customer puts in the machine," Mackson said. "And then we have our staff counting all glass and anything that’s either too big or too small to go in the machines."
Willette’s redemption center doesn’t have machines, and his employees have to count every container that they process by hand.
"What’s gonna happen? I’ve already been thinking about closing," Willette said.
Mackson said redemption centers like Willette's are left to sort everything.
"That’s the part that most people don’t see and don’t know about. We’re — when we went to the machines — we got rid of a lot of our sorting," Mackson said. "But places that don’t have machines, they have to put these bottles and cans in up to 300-400 different types of boxes. And it — bottle by bottle, can by can, sorts them all out. And that takes forever."
Mackson says to cut down on cost, the redemption center has weeded out some of its services. They no longer pick up containers from businesses, and they no longer pay cash for bottle drop-offs.
“When we were in areas we would pick up from different businesses, and we have had to get rid of that altogether," Mackson said. "We don’t pick up from any businesses anymore because it was an extra step that we could say, 'Ok, if you guys drop it off, we’ll count it for you. But we can't have that extra step now."
Willette said he’s waiting to see how things pan out once the minimum wage increases at the top of the year.
"As far as minimum wage going up — we just got another half-cent. And we’ll see how that works.," Willette said.
Mackson said redemption centers are currently required to sort containers by brand, bottle size, and type.
He said he would like to see the state simplify the process, only requiring centers to sort containers by four container types: aluminum, plastic cloudy, plastic, and glass.