ALBANY - Responding to a growing number of consumer complaints, the New York State Environmental Conservation Police recently conducted a statewide, coordinated enforcement sweep of 652 retail outlets to ensure compliance with the state's hugely successful Bottle Bill, Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis announced Wednesday.

DEC officers attempted to return a variety of redeemable cans and bottles to stores and issued a total of 127 notices of violation for the state's Bottle Bill, also known as the Returnable Container Act, when store operators refused or if other violations took place.

Law Enforcement Officers from each of DEC's nine regional offices participated in the one-day undercover investigation on Oct. 29, 2008. They visited stores of all sizes that sell beer, soda, and other carbonated beverages carrying a five-cent deposit. Store owners and operators are required to take back the cans and bottles that they sell and issue a deposit. Typically, violations found during the operation centered on the store owners' refusal to do so.

The notices of violation issued during the officers' visits are the first step in DEC's enforcement process. Next, legal staff will be working with individual store owners or, in the case of multiple outlets, with parent corporations to address the violations and assess penalties, if warranted. Penalties could range up to $500 per violation.