james_davis_nicoll | In defense of plastic bags, which I now have to pay a nickel for

In defense of plastic bags, which I now have to pay a nickel for

Nothing currently eats plastic so any bag I send to the dump is effectively sequestering the carbon it contains. How long it will stay sequestered is an interesting question.

Admittedly, it was sequestered when it started off as oil in the ground but at least one small fraction of the hydrocarbons get put back more or less where they began.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

...what about plastic bottles?

Although these are recyclable, all too often, there is no incentive or opportunity to recycle them, i.e. no available recycle bins, so they end up in a landfill somewhere.

Back in the says where pop would come in a glass bottle, they came with a 10 or 25 cent deposit attached to them, and when you returned the bottles, you'd get it back...just like the beer and wine bottles of today. But since the wholesale switch to plastic bottles for pop, we find the things strewn everywhere. Why? Because there's no deposit on the things, therefore no real incentive to seek out a recycle bin once they're emptied.

So, if we're now all fired up to fork out a nickel for every plastic grocery bag we now use, why can we not implement something similar for plastic bottles. I take note that such a thing is in place out west. We need it back, here in Ontario.

There's a deposit on plastic soda bottles in several US states, including Massachusetts.

...Mind you, the consumer only gets the deposit back if they take out the trouble to seek a bottle-eating machine that pays out (these exist at supermarkets). But I'm pretty sure it provides an incentive for towns to do bottle recycling via the green bins.

Also, I think the machines actually pay out in store credit.

Also not true in NY. The machine gives you a receipt, which you can either use to offset your new purchases or exchange for cash.

Hmmm. In all the towns I've lived in, they specifically ask that you not recycle things that have a deposit, because then you have the secondary market of profiteers rooting through deposit bins all night long making a racket and sometimes a mess.

And IIRC, at least in New York you don't need to find a machine. If you manage a store, you have to accept returns on any items that you sell. The machines are for the store's convenience because they don't take a cashier's time and mess up their hands.

As there is in much of Canada. In Saskatchewan for example the deposit on plastic pop containers up to one litre in size is 10 cents each. I make sure to collect and recycle mine, as I like the extra money I get from taking them in. Information for Canada can be found at the following:
http://www.bottlebill.org/legislation/canada.htm

Sadly, none at all for Ontario...did I mention? Plastic bottles everywhere.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

In defense of plastic bags, which I now have to pay a nickel for

Never mind plastic bags...

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