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I'm somewhat acquainted with the German deposit system. While I don't know if littering decreased after it was implemented, I saw a lot of people leaving their

I'm somewhat acquainted with the German deposit system. While I don't know if littering decreased after it was implemented, I saw a lot of people leaving their bottles and cans in parks on purpose so bottle collectors can get them, as a kind of donation I guess? The deposit is just about a quarter though, not a dollar. (Also I have 666 reputation right now, please don't ruin it)

detaro 3y ago
AFAIK German estimates are that ~95% are returned. 0.25€ is for single-use containers, multi-use containers (e.g. glass beer bottles that get refilled) are 0.08€ or 0.15€ depending on type.
- Symbiote 3y ago
  In Denmark it's 92% https://danskretursystem.dk/en/sustainability/ https://danskretursystem.dk/en/sustainability/
sidewndr46 3y ago
Isn't this a net good thing? The objective is to make sure the object is returned and either recycled or disposed of. It doesn't matter if someone casually returns their own bottles or one guy walks around with a cart and collects 1000s of them. They all get returned.
alfanick 3y ago
Unfortunately I moved out of Germany but I loved this system. In Dresden-Neustadt [quite funky party areal], it was quite common to leave beer bottles or alcopop cans neatly outside of the trash bins. So people who make money from collecting them don't have to dig in trash. Pure humanity. I used to work at FAANG there, one of the managers was a fun guy. For a month he committed to do the same thing as the people who collect cans - every 04:00am he went around town, collecting bottles and cans. Turns out you can easily make 100-200eur a day with this. But it's a highly competitive business.
- detaro 3y ago
  > it was quite common to leave beer bottles or alcopop cans neatly outside of the trash bins. There even was/is a bit of a campaign to promote that, e.g. with slogans on bottle labels. Some places also have started putting up small "bottle racks" with trash cans.
- spyremeown 3y ago
  >So people who make money from collecting them don't have to dig in trash. Pure humanity. I've lived in Germany, and this was one of the things I quickly adopted after seeing the locals doing it. An interesting anecdote is that can/bottle collectors always approached me asking if I'm finished with my drink (I had a drink outside almost daily), but I never felt threatened or anything. They were generally super polite, I'd usually reply with "I'll leave it here" and they went along their way. Very different experience than anywhere else!

detaro 3y ago

AFAIK German estimates are that ~95% are returned. 0.25€ is for single-use containers, multi-use containers (e.g. glass beer bottles that get refilled) are 0.08€ or 0.15€ depending on type.

Symbiote 3y ago
In Denmark it's 92% https://danskretursystem.dk/en/sustainability/ https://danskretursystem.dk/en/sustainability/

sidewndr46 3y ago

Isn't this a net good thing? The objective is to make sure the object is returned and either recycled or disposed of. It doesn't matter if someone casually returns their own bottles or one guy walks around with a cart and collects 1000s of them. They all get returned.

alfanick 3y ago

Unfortunately I moved out of Germany but I loved this system. In Dresden-Neustadt [quite funky party areal], it was quite common to leave beer bottles or alcopop cans neatly outside of the trash bins. So people who make money from collecting them don't have to dig in trash. Pure humanity. I used to work at FAANG there, one of the managers was a fun guy. For a month he committed to do the same thing as the people who collect cans - every 04:00am he went around town, collecting bottles and cans. Turns out you can easily make 100-200eur a day with this. But it's a highly competitive business.

detaro 3y ago
> it was quite common to leave beer bottles or alcopop cans neatly outside of the trash bins. There even was/is a bit of a campaign to promote that, e.g. with slogans on bottle labels. Some places also have started putting up small "bottle racks" with trash cans.
spyremeown 3y ago
>So people who make money from collecting them don't have to dig in trash. Pure humanity. I've lived in Germany, and this was one of the things I quickly adopted after seeing the locals doing it. An interesting anecdote is that can/bottle collectors always approached me asking if I'm finished with my drink (I had a drink outside almost daily), but I never felt threatened or anything. They were generally super polite, I'd usually reply with "I'll leave it here" and they went along their way. Very different experience than anywhere else!