Bottle can can deposits

[Pete]

When I moved to Maine I learned about their bottle and can deposit program. You pay an additional .05 on every bottle and can when you buy it, then get it back when you return it to a recycling center.

Not being a particularly "green" person myself it does seem to make sense to me. Instead of bottles and cans being tossed in landfills where they last basically forever, or worse tossed out as litter, they are pre-sorted and delivered to recyclers in big bags ready to be ground up.

Would you support such a plan?

[GWguy]

Originally Posted by Pete

When I moved to Maine I learned about their bottle and can deposit program. You pay an additional .05 on every bottle and can when you buy it, then get it back when you return it to a recycling center.

Not being a particularly "green" person myself it does seem to make sense to me. Instead of bottles and cans being tossed in landfills where they last basically forever, or worse tossed out as litter, they are pre-sorted and delivered to recyclers in big bags ready to be ground up.

Would you support such a plan?

When I lived in NY, they had that plan. It can work well, but can also be a pain in the butt. You have to clean all the bottles and store them prior to bringing them to a redemption center. In some cases, like plastic bottles, the redemption center is a crushing machine at the grocery store. You always get the person(s) who don't clean the bottles and it gets everywhere, stinks, and attracts bugs.

That said, yes, I would support it and use it. However, until they make recycling mandatory, I think very few would participate.

[lovinmaryland]

Originally Posted by Pete

When I moved to Maine I learned about their bottle and can deposit program. You pay an additional .05 on every bottle and can when you buy it, then get it back when you return it to a recycling center.

Not being a particularly "green" person myself it does seem to make sense to me. Instead of bottles and cans being tossed in landfills where they last basically forever, or worse tossed out as litter, they are pre-sorted and delivered to recyclers in big bags ready to be ground up.

Would you support such a plan?

We did that when we lived in Ca. We would save up our cans for the month and then take them in to the recycle centers... it was nice to get that small hunk of money at the end of the month. They did it by weight and not each individual can so you just took the bags in and they weighed them and gave you your $$$ easy peasy japaneese!

[Pete]

Originally Posted by GWguy

When I lived in NY, they had that plan. It can work well, but can also be a pain in the butt. You have to clean all the bottles and store them prior to bringing them to a redemption center. In some cases, like plastic bottles, the redemption center is a crushing machine at the grocery store. You always get the person(s) who don't clean the bottles and it gets everywhere, stinks, and attracts bugs.

That said, yes, I would support it and use it. However, until they make recycling mandatory, I think very few would participate.

In Maine you didn't have to clean them. I had a can in the garage and collected all the cans and bottles. When I got 3 bags I took them to the redemption center and got my $18.50.

As far as participation while not mandatory it would be stupid not to. When you buy a 12 pack of beer, the beer rings up then it adds .60 on your recipt as "deposit". If you want your .60 back you collect the cans and take them to the redemption center. If you don't you just toss them out. In Maine it was the norm and the redemption centers were pretty busy. They were also contracted out and a private business which created jobs.

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by Pete

When I moved to Maine I learned about their bottle and can deposit program. You pay an additional .05 on every bottle and can when you buy it, then get it back when you return it to a recycling center.

Not being a particularly "green" person myself it does seem to make sense to me. Instead of bottles and cans being tossed in landfills where they last basically forever, or worse tossed out as litter, they are pre-sorted and delivered to recyclers in big bags ready to be ground up.

Would you support such a plan?

When I was a kid I would spend summer vacations down home in Virginia. They did this as well but there were no recycling centers. You simply took your bottles back to the store to get your .05 back.

[jwwb2000]

Habitat for Humanity is actually collecting aluminum cans to help raise funds for the projects they have going on. My oldest rounds up a few kids in the neighborhood and off they go to collect all of the cans they can find. She then turns them into her school so they can turn them in to HFH.

[Pete]

Originally Posted by Jeff

When I was a kid I would spend summer vacations down home in Virginia. They did this as well but there were no recycling centers. You simply took your bottles back to the store to get your .05 back.

Those were the returnable heavy glass bottles they used back then. Now almost everything is throw away. I remember collecting bottles for bubble gum money back then

[Gwydion]

I used to collect cans along roadsides and take them to Eastalco. It was somethng like $0.60 a pound. I'd come home with some nice money for a kid.

[Pete]

Originally Posted by jwwb2000

Habitat for Humanity is actually collecting aluminum cans to help raise funds for the projects they have going on. My oldest rounds up a few kids in the neighborhood and off they go to collect all of the cans they can find. She then turns them into her school so they can turn them in to HFH.

That is cool but for every can they find probably a couple thousand make it into the landfill or tossed out in the weeds or on the side of the road. Just imagine how many sodas, beers, water, juice, energy drinks get consumed in ST Mary's county everyday, all going to the dump.

[Pete]

Originally Posted by Gwydion

I used to collect cans along roadsides and take them to Eastalco. It was somethng like $0.60 a pound. I'd come home with some nice money for a kid.

You evidently didn't use that money for writing classes.