Man with 10,000 nonrefundable bottles heads to trial

A Genesee County man whom police say admitted he was trying to return more than 10,000 nonreturnable bottles will head to trial.

Livingston County District Judge L. Suzanne Geddis bound over the case against Brian Edward Everidge, of Columbiaville, following testimony Wednesday from a Michigan State Police motor carrier officer.

Everidge, who is charged with one count of beverage return of nonrefundable bottles, faces up to five years in prison if convicted as charged.

There were no new court dates immediately set.

Motor carrier Officer Clifford Lyden from the state police’s Brighton Post testified that he stopped Everidge, who was driving a Budget box truck, around 10 p.m. April 27 on northbound U.S. 23 near Faussett Road in Tyrone Township for doing 72 mph. The speed limit for vehicles weighing 10,000 pounds or more is 60 mph, Lyden said.

The motor carrier officer said he found the truck “packed” with clear plastic bags containing aluminum cans. He said there also were smaller dark-colored bags containing cans used as space fillers between the larger bags.

“I don’t think you could have put another five or 10 cans in there,” Lyden testified. “It was packed.”

Lyden said Everidge indicated during the traffic stop that he picked up the cans from Lexington, Kentucky.

“He said his intent was to return them; he just didn’t say where he was going to return them,” Lyden said, noting that the defendant also acknowledged he was hoping to receive “deposit (money) he did not pay.”

Assistant Prosecutor Michael Taylor asked the court to send the case to trial, noting that Everidge admitted he went to Kentucky and picked up and brought back cans he knew could not be returned for money in Michigan.

Defense attorney Marcus Wilcox, however, said the state has incorrectly charged his client because they are trying to allege he “attempted to attempt to deliver” the cans to a dealer, but he had not done so, which means he did not violate the law he’s been charged.

“They caught him too early,” Wilcox told the court. “He attempted to attempt to return the bottles. … This statute doesn’t fit.”

According to Michigan’s Beverage Containers Act, a person cannot return or attempt to return to a dealer a beverage container the person knows was not purchased in Michigan as a filled returnable container. Anyone attempting to return 10,000 or more nonreturnable containers can be found guilty of a felony that is punishable by up to five years in prison and/or a fine not to exceed $5,000.

Of all the states with bottle bills, Michigan has the highest refund value, according to statistics from the Container Recycling Institute.

California has a 10 cent refund on bottles that are 24 ounces or larger while anything smaller is 5 cents. Maine's and Vermont’s bottle bills provide 15 cents on liquor bottles and 5 cents on all beverages except dairy products and unprocessed cider, the CRI noted.

Contact Livingston Daily justice reporter Lisa Roose-Church at 517-552-2846 or lrchurch@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @LisaRooseChurch.