If your basement, garage or messy closet is overflowing with cans and bottles, relief is in sight.

Michigan will allow return facilities to resume operations June 15, under certain restrictions.

There likely will be limits on the number of containers individuals can return each day, so don’t load up your vehicle just yet.

Returns were halted by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s stay-at-home order in late March. While grocery stores were deemed essential and remained opened, bottle and can returns were considered nonessential. Halting all returns allowed retailers to shift employees to other duties as a safety precaution.

The initial phase of reopening allows retailers with bottle and can returns at the front of the store or in a separate area with “reverse vending machines with minimal or no person-to-person contact” to begin accepting returns.

Retailers must ensure compliance with all state-mandated safety protocols and restrictions, including the most recent state-mandated safeguards to protect workers.

In addition, they may take any or all of these steps:

— Limit the number of beverage containers that may be returned by a single individual per day to a deposit refund amount of $25.

— Establish special or limited hours of operation for return facilities.

— Limit the number of available and operating reverse vending machines.

— Periodically close bottle deposit facilities as needed for cleaning and supply management.

— Implement such other procedures or restrictions as each retailer may determine are necessary or advisable to promote safety and/or efficiency.

During this initial phase, retailers must limit the volume of weekly returned beverage containers to no more than 140% of their average weekly collection volume for the period April and May 2019.

Consumers also have the option of recycling their returnable beverage containers if they choose not to return them to a bottle deposit redemption facility.

A week ago, it was estimated that Michiganders were sitting on about 500 million returnable cans and bottles worth $50 million. With deposit redemptions soon to resume, it may now take 20 to 25 weeks for processing companies to catch up.

The Michigan Department of Treasury says it will soon issue more guidance on additional phases of the reestablishment of the deposit program. Questions can be directed to Treas_MiscTaxesFees@michigan.gov.