I have been known in the past to think that Alberta is the best place you can be. I've been know to think that everybody is the same as us .
Well the comments on The Money Machine was Empty, jerked my head up about these assumptions. By the way the comments were awesome and made me rethink the issue.
Many of you wondered about the idea of being paid for return of bottles and cans and other containers. Reading between the lines some of you are going, "What's going on here?" We always had a program of payment for return of bottles and cans. As a child I would walk along the ditches picking out bottles and cans. I got one or two cents for each container.
Okay you can see the first idea coming here. Paying for return of containers gets the garbage picked up. It also gathers material to be made into something else.
It also gets sillier. When we buy certain products that we can return we are charged a environmental fee. So when I return bottles and cans it's money that I've already paid.
Some groups have fund raisers by picking up containers from road allowances.
The homeless get some cash.
So for the countries where people are wise enough to not throw things out the car window ao just drop something on the street. Great! That's the way it should be . We should all take responsibility for keeping the environment clean and tidy.
Our system in NS is similar to yours - we pay 10 cents at the grocery store for each "returnable recyclable" as they are called (beverage cans, bottles and tetra paks) and get 5 cents back if we return them to a special depot. We can get the money or we can ask for it to be credited to any community group that has registered an account with the depot. We don't have a money machine, though - we have real live people!
ReplyDeleteI think they hope to achieve cleaner environment and recycle some material.
DeleteI remember the practice of finding bottles and cans for cash, but it's been a long time since then. I don't even remember where I was living back then. Maybe California?
ReplyDeleteThe practice of paying for containers probably came in during the war.
DeleteMy state has had a can and bottle bill for longer than I am old. I am always amazed when I go to other states and see bottles and can littering the sides of the road because for many years here, all sorts of people picked them up and cashed them in for the money. But inflation is eating away at the benefits. When I was a child, we could get 5 cents per bottle or can. 50 years later, it is still 5 cents per bottle or can. People are starting to toss them again rather than reclaim their nickel. I think they should make it 25 cents or perhaps more. Like you said, if you return them, you get your own money back so it isn't a loss. It is just insurance that they will be disposed of properly.
ReplyDeleteYour key point is to have them disposed of properly. It's a shock when you cross a state line and see the litter.
DeleteI used to do the same as a kid -- collect bottles to return for their deposits, and aluminum cans to recycle in the recycling machine. I didn't make much money but enough to buy a Coke or a candy bar!
ReplyDeleteYou had to be desperate for these refunds.
DeleteWhen I was a young child my Father would take my brother and I out for Sunday rides when he didn't have to work. We would watch for pop bottles in the ditch, then my brother and I would take turns hopping out of the car and collecting them. 5 cents each back then...gasoline was 19 cents a gallon too:)
ReplyDeleteWe were too far in the boonies to have many bottles thrown in the ditch.
DeleteOregon has a bottle/can fee as an incentive to return and recycle. It's a pain but it does help. Here in Washington we just recycle, which I prefer, but of course that's because we do actually recycle. Many don't. They just toss in the trash at best.
ReplyDeleteRed, Your bottom line is perfect. “We should all take responsibility for keeping the environment clean and tidy.” John
ReplyDeleteAgree, we should all take responsibility. I remember returning bottles & cans for cash. It was a hassle.
ReplyDeleteWell said
ReplyDeletePride of place means some of us have to pick up garbage! It is a shame.
ReplyDeleteall i can wish that may my country be the same as yours .it hurts lot to see trash withered on visiting places . despite seeing the mess i try to keep ours in my bag and throw in dust bin and not on the ground .
ReplyDelete