http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110211/...us_bottle_scam
A memorable "Seinfeld" episode features Kramer and Newman taking thousands of cans and bottles to Michigan so they can get a nickel more per container than they would in New York, but beverage distributors say there's nothing funny when it happens for real.
In Maine, which has a more expansive bottle-redemption law than neighboring states, three people have been accused of illegally cashing in more than 100,000 out-of-state bottles and cans for deposits, the first time criminal charges have been filed in the state over bottle-refund fraud, a prosecutor said.
An estimated 90 million cans and bottles are fraudulently cashed in each year in Maine, costing beverage distributors $8 million to $10 million, said Newell Augur, executive director of the Maine Beverage Association.
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funny thing is
" Containers sold in other states, however, carry the Maine deposit stamp because it's not cost-effective to change labeling for each state. "
so the beverage companies create the problem by putting the maine deposit stamp on all containers because its too expensive to only put it on maine containers.
So they are wasting taxpayer money to prosecute people for something the beverage companies don't even care about because it isn't cost effective for them.