Many homeless people rely on returning
empty bottles and cans as a form of income.
It's known as Canning, but as of last week,
some stores on Portland Central
Eastside have stopped accepting the
cans because of safety concerns,
even though state law says
they have to take them.
Their best has our story.
It's almost like a drill
and I make more money an hour than
most people do in pretty good jobs.
One Larry Smith has down to a science
well, I gotta get the cans at night,
usually about four or five hours
just to get these right here.
He's a military vet and lives
in transitional housing.
Canning for him is a full time job,
approximately $300 worth.
What do you use that $300.00 on 1st?
I start every day at $110 in the hole
because that's how much my hotel bill.
My girlfriend has cancer right now,
so I'm working with that as well.
We use it for food.
We use it for cigarettes because we smoke.
We have habits too,
just like everybody else,
and we use it for gas.
My car, my truck.
For many like Larry,
the People's Depot under the Morrison
Bridge is the only reliable place
to return bottles as of late,
since nearby stores in Portland
Central Eastside District are either
limiting bottle return services
or no longer accepting them.
I think they discriminate against people.
By tapping Fred Meyers,
they shut down totally.
They can only give you $2.40.
I used to take all my cans to Safeway.
I don't like dealing with the stores.
It's all it's always hit and miss.
Market of choice here.
Off SE Belmont is one of the places
no longer accepting returnables.
Now those working inside
wouldn't go on camera,
but tell us that homeless people
returning bottles have assaulted
their staff and they've had
to call police numerous times.
A lot of these folks out here,
they don't know how to react with words.
They only know one way to
react and that is by violence.
Refusing to accept Returnables
goes against Oregon law.
According to the Oregon Liquor
and Cannabis Commission,
businesses could face
daily fines up to $500.00.
Those at market of choice are
aware of the penalties and are
trying to find a way to both
comply and keep their staff safe.
I don't understand what the
safety concerns are like.
We've been in look, see,
we've been under here for close
to three years, so we've never
had the had the cops come here.
We've never had any like major.
Fights break out
for those at People's Depot.
They'll continue to provide the
lifeline. Many homeless people
rely on one can at a time.
Everyone is very respectful of if
you can't tell, everyone tends
to respect what we do and we're
become a pillar in the community
in central east side. Blair best, KGW news.
And those of you who watch the
story every night, and by the way,
thank you for doing that,
you know that Blair gives U.S.
special behind the scenes
access to her stories,
filling us in on things that she
was not able to get into her
main story that you just saw.
And trying to help us better understand
the feel of the environment which she's
out there on the street reporting.
Here's a look at what happened today.
Just one thing I wanted to add to this story.
You can see the line of people waiting
to drop off bottles there behind me.
The people actually accepting the bottles
offer some of the homeless people jobs on
the spot if they have the availability.
Some of the people accepting the
bottles actually used to be homeless
and they told me that it wasn't until
they were dropping off bottles one
day and they got offered a job to work
this line right here that their life
turned around and they were able to
get their feedback underneath them.
As for the atmosphere.
Here today, I won't lie,
it's a little tense.
We even got yelled at a few times
from some of the people waiting
in line just for shooting video.
So I I do kind of get what
these stores are saying.
I'm not quite sure what it is about dropping
off bottles that makes people so hostile.
But that being said,
this this place to drop off bottles
seems to have a better working
relationship with the homeless and
they they seem to feel more accepted
here as opposed to going to a,
you know,
big grocery store.
For a convenience store,
and I think that's why this place has
been so successful for several years
and they've never had to call police
and they've never had any issues.