RE: [at-l] No Bud for the Owen's

[bullard@northnet.org]

At 12:02 AM 2/21/00 -0500, Walt Daniels wrote:
>The best thing about the Maine bottle bill is that they now have more
>redemption centers than churches :-).
>
>I can attest to the success of bottle bills. I was the chair of the litter
>day committee for NY/NJ Trail Conference for 7 years, mostly non-bottle bill
>years. We were taking 100 bags of bottles out of one 3 mile trail twice a
>year. The last year I ran it, after the NY bottle bill, it was down to 7
>bags, once a year. And indeed there are people who make a living picking up
>cans in NY. Try throwing one in a trash can in midtown Manhattan and watch
>for a few minutes. Someone will be by and pick it out of the trash.
>Unfortunately the further in you get the more problematic as the Owen's
>pointed out.
>
I have to agree that NY's bottle bill drastically reduced the amount of
trash but there is one thing that has always puzzled me about how the
system works and that is the economics of it. When I buy a bottle of soda I
pay a $.05 deposit and when I return the bottle they give me the nickle
back. So, with an even exchange, how do bottle return centers make any
money? I'm not a retailer but I do know that if I don't pay less for my
product than I sell it for, I won't be able to pay the rent, much less make
any money. Is there an element of the system that is invisible to me (the
consumer) that makes this a viable business?

Saunterer
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