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That’s how it still worked in the 90s in post-communist Central European countries. Then we got flooded with plastic just like the Westerners.
by wrzuteczka 5y ago
That’s how it still worked in the 90s in post-communist Central European countries. Then we got flooded with plastic just like the Westerners.
- underseacables 5y agoI was amazed in Berlin the recycling program that makes it very easy to recycle cans and bottles. People made it a job to pickup and search through trash so they could recycle. A can deposit would be welcomed, but maybe I’m old and just remember crushing cans to fill up trash bags to get $7. Sure was fun to get that money as a kid.
- Claire42 5y agoYeah but in the USA the recycling infrastructure is very different from state to state, so implementing something on a national level is not a viable solution.
- frosted-flakes 5y agoSome places you don't get the deposit if the can is crushed, because they need to be able to read the barcode. Which is insane, because crushed cans take up a fraction of the space of whole cans and only makes the recycling process more complex.
- pintxo 5y agoThe self-service machines used in Germany to collect bottles and cans will do the crushing part for you (after reading the barcode)
- frosted-flakes 5y agoYeah, but collecting whole cans is inconvenient. My normal process is to crush it with my hands immediately after drinking it (top to bottom) so it doesn't take up so much room.
- elondaits 5y agoIt’s not just that it’s easy… it’s also how much they give you per can or bottle (up to 25 cents)… it’s quite a significant amount, so you end up saving the bottles and taking them to the supermarket to get the refund.
- emerongi 5y agoThere's a couple of grocery stores here that are recently trying out selling soap and shampoo this way. You bring your own bottle and fill it up. It makes sense and is not much extra hassle to the consumer, however I'm not sure how hard it is to scale logistics-wise.
- JohnWhigham 5y agoSimilar thing in Austin, TX. City banned single use plastic bags, so HEB (the largest grocer) introduced durable reusable plastic bags to purchase. Unsurprisingly, people ate the cost, treated them like single use bags, and now we have an even worse waste problem. Liberal policymaking in a nutshell.
- ceejayoz 5y agoWegmans reusable bags are $1 a pop, so no one's eating the cost. Seems to be quite a decent reuse rate; I've got some several years old at this point.