REGION — Walgreens is back to charging just five cents for its bottle-deposit fee on applicable bottles in regional stores.

The Franklin Journal reported in the Friday, April 1 edition that Walgreens customers were incurring 15-cent fees at locations across Western Maine for bottles that should only incur a 5-cent bottle deposit fee.

Sun Media Group’s western Maine weeklies reporters returned to the Farmington and Livermore Falls, Bethel and Norway Walgreens locations Tuesday, April 5, and were all charged the correct five-cent fee on applicable bottles. Additionally, price labels on shelves now state “plus deposit.”

After a consumer posted on Facebook in mid-March about a 15-cent charge for a bottle at Walgreens in Bethel, reporters from Sun Media Group went to stores in Farmington, Lewiston, Auburn, Livermore Falls and Norway. They purchased bottles that register under the state’s 5-cent deposit fee and each were charged 15 cents for “recycling fees.”

The bottle return program, also known as the “Bottle Bill” incentivizes recycling by creating a deposit fee, set by the Legislature, which passes a fee from manufacturer to distributor to retailer to consumer. The consumer is responsible for returning the bottle to a redemption center to receive the fee they paid as stipulated by the bottle’s label. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection currently oversees the program.

At the time, Scott Wilson, project manager for sustainability for the Maine DEP, said this is explicitly against the stipulations set by Maine’s “Bottle Bill.”

Walgreens’ corporate office responded late Thursday, March 31, with the following:

“Walgreens recently became aware of this issue and is actively working to correct bottle deposit fees charged at our Maine store locations. Store teams are manually adjusting the fees until this is corrected in our system. Customers who were charged an incorrect bottle deposit fee can bring their receipt into a local Walgreens for reimbursement. We thank our customers for their continued patience and apologize for the inconvenience.”

Wilson spoke with the Franklin Journal again Wednesday, April 6, about the issue.

Wilson said that Walgreens had rebooted its system, causing the incorrect fee.

The reboot defaulted back to the old system, which had an error in it, Wilson said.

He added the DEP had previously talked with Walgreens because they weren’t charging some deposits back in January.

Wilson said the DEP was “still working with them, waiting for it to get all straightened out.”

He declined to comment further because the case is an active investigation.

It’s currently unclear what consequences Walgreens might face.

Maine law states that a violation could result in a $100 fine per day, charged each day as a “separate offense” if “the violation … continues or exists.”

It’s also unclear how the DEP is ensuring Walgreens customers who incurred the incorrect fee are adequately compensated.

Walgreens has not issued further comment on the matter.

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