Sue Johnson/Daily Mining Gazette Residents lined up Monday to return their treasure trove of cans and bottles at Econo Foods in Houghton.

HOUGHTON — Michigan residents stashed away an estimated $64 million in potential deposits during the three-month ban on can and bottle returns, according to the Michigan Department of Treasury. 

This week, people are starting to reclaim that money — and space, one 10-cent deposit at a time. Returns reopened on Monday, with reduced hours and caps on daily returns and customers allowed at one time.

Thursday afternoon, Timothy Wright of Calumet had just started loading cans at Econo Foods. With a two-customer cap, the line was five people long. 

The haul he brought was “a drop in the bucket,” Wright said. The rest is still sitting on his front porch. 

“It’s a pretty big eyesore, to be honest, but I don’t have anywhere else to put them,” he said. 

At Walmart Thursday afternoon, there was a line of three people waiting to get inside the recycling center, which is capped at three customers. They are also limited to 250 cans or bottles. 

They’ve been able to keep the wait to about 20 minutes, said A.J. Wilds, a bottle room associate. 

“From what I saw before, the flow’s a little more congested, but it’s been pretty easy-going,” he said. 

Even with the pent-up demand, the restrictions, and the newness of the reopening, have probably brought the total volume below where it was in March, Wilds said. 

“It’ll probably pick up once people know that we’re open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and we’re expecting that,” he said. “I expect it’ll pick back up to a normal flow.”

At Pat’s Foods in Hancock, Pam Matson was making her second run so far this week. Pat’s had a $15 limit for customers; her first trip had been $6. 

She’s relieved to have the option of returning cans again, she said. But with the current restrictions, it’s also a “pain in the butt.”

“Because the state requires this, they should have a way for us to get rid of all this at once,” she said.