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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

 

[Jeff]

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

I think the same method could be used. Let the stores be the collection points. When the drink vendors drop off new supplies they can haul the empties back. Make the manufacturing folks a part of it.

 

[jwwb2000]

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.

I can only imagine how many cans go in the garbage from bars where people mostly drink 10 oz'rs and all the red bull cans as well.

 

[Pete]

I think the same method could be used. Let the stores be the collection points. When the drink vendors drop off new supplies they can haul the empties back. Make the manufacturing folks a part of it.

Up there some did but for the most part handling a large quantity of empties might be overwhelming for them. I think it would be just as fine to allow free enterprise to come in and solve the problem. The redemption centers has semi loads of sorted plastic and aluminum cans taken from them every week.

 

[Pete]

I can only imagine how many cans go in the garbage from bars where people mostly drink 10 oz'rs and all the red bull cans as well.

Good point, the bar bottles if I am not mistaken are the thin glass non returnables. Jumbo can loads of them are dumped everyday.

 

[jwwb2000]

Good point, the bar bottles if I am not mistaken are the thin glass non returnables. Jumbo can loads of them are dumped everyday.

I would have to check on the beer bottles, but I am pretty sure they can be recycled.

 

[Cowgirl]

When I lived in VT I participated. I think it was a whopping $.10 though. :shrug: I guess if they made it mandatory I'd participate. I really don't recycle much.

 

[Pete]

I would have to check on the beer bottles, but I am pretty sure they can be recycled.

I am sure they can be recycled but they are not the heavy glass returnables they used to have.

 

[JustinB]

I don't like it. I already have a recycling bin. With this program I would have to pay an extra 5¢ a bottle. Then I would have to take them somewhere to recoup my money?

It's already a pain trying to find somewhere to take my CFL's

 

[Pete]

When I lived in VT I participated. I think it was a whopping $.10 though. :shrug: I guess if they made it mandatory I'd participate. I really don't recycle much.

Several states do it. I think Michigan is .10 a bottle/can though which would be more of an incentive to encourage returning them.

 

[Jeff]

Up there some did but for the most part handling a large quantity of empties might be overwhelming for them. I think it would be just as fine to allow free enterprise to come in and solve the problem. The redemption centers has semi loads of sorted plastic and aluminum cans taken from them every week.

True. I would just like to see redemption centers scattered around and have better access to them. As oopposed to 1-2 centralized points. Hence the reason for letting the stores be the collection points. Would be nice to be able to take a small load to the store on a regular basis as opposed to keeping everything around the house to be hauled as a dedicated load to a redemption center.

I remember doing the Aluminum Can thing in Virginia. They did not want you to crush them down there at that time. So this stuff has the potential to take up allot of space around the house. Would be nice to be able to easily haul it off and drop it off everytime I went for a gallon of Milk and knock it all out at one time.

In Virginia, The area I was from was rather remote. So for recyclables, I tractor traler would show up at various locations each week on scedualed basis. But the stores did the remption thingy.