It’s not really arbitraging it is outright theft.
If you pay the “deposit” on the beverage container, then the deposit is returned to you when you redeem it. If you paid it in NY when it comes into and out of the “deposit” fund.
For example
If you paid the deposit in NY and returned it in Michigan, then you took the 10 cents out of Michigan’s fund, and NY did not forward the 5 cents to Michigan.
If you take the bottle you did not pay the deposit on in PA and redeem it in NY technically you are stealing from the NY fund.
Personally, I resent the bottle deposits on plastic. The idea was to get people to pick them up off the side of the road and redeem them. They should not be surprised when those very people have found a way to increase their profitability in doing so.
So the beverage Vendors need to mark the bottles for only those states. The states who agree to multiple state bottle marking need to shut the **** up or fix the markings with the cooperation of the vendors.
The states bring this on themselves