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Quick google shows that recycle rate is ~30% for PET bottles in US in 2015 [0]. Not obvious if the problem is that customers not returning/recycling bottles or

Quick google shows that recycle rate is ~30% for PET bottles in US in 2015 [0]. Not obvious if the problem is that customers not returning/recycling bottles or that garbage just gets landfilled. Compare that to Nordics, where Norway achieved 95.4% return rate of PET bottles (~0.3 USD return cash-back), and Sweden 84% (~0.15 USD return) [1]. Most countries in EU have landfill ban [2], so most of waste is either burned or recycled. Diverting bottles/cans to return scheme solves garbage sorting problem, which makes it possible to process/recycle 100% of it just by improving recycling facilities. In my personal opinion, closed loop systems (full ban on landfills) are better for everyone, but require deep systematic changes, potentially using "dirty" psychological tricks, to get done what's really needed. Adding deposits may sound negative from NIMBY/corporate, but it leverages human psychological on last mile (where garbage sorting is easiest) and from empirical evidence achieves what needs to be done. - [0] https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/plastics-material-specific-data https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-... - [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Container-deposit_legislation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Container-deposit_legislation - [2] http://www.cewep.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Landfill-taxes-and-bans-overview.pdf http://www.cewep.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Landfill-taxe...

Shivetya 7y ago
Not sure how it panned out elsewhere, but we used to have newspaper, magazine, and aluminum can, recycling bins in school parking lots. They got moved of course after all the "predator" laws but even after being moved most were abandoned as people used them for general trash; as in they did not want to pay for services or take to dump on their own their regular trash. Just slapping recycle costs on all three forms of drink containers should be sufficient to boost return to proper places. I remember bottle deposits doing well.

Shivetya 7y ago

Not sure how it panned out elsewhere, but we used to have newspaper, magazine, and aluminum can, recycling bins in school parking lots. They got moved of course after all the "predator" laws but even after being moved most were abandoned as people used them for general trash; as in they did not want to pay for services or take to dump on their own their regular trash. Just slapping recycle costs on all three forms of drink containers should be sufficient to boost return to proper places. I remember bottle deposits doing well.