NY bottled water... new law & who profits?

[gary s]

the new ny botled water law goes into effect 10/31. a 5 cent deposit is required for every bottle sold. redemption centers only have to accept the brand they sell. this is similar to the current soda/beer can-bottle law that has been in place over 15 years.

imo, a minor inconvenience as i witness at my job how many bottles get tossed in the regular garbage and not recycled.

on the other side, someone is making a profit on this, guess who?

 

[EddieS'04]

Gary, I wish my city would at least start, a volunteer recycle system. I drink alot of coke-a-cola. My nephew gets the cans for boyscouts. Lady at church gets the tabs. Some type of trade. X number of tabs, gets someone a free dyalysis. My local kroger takes the plastic bags back. But my city is laging on recycle, period. They have had sectioned dumpters around. But they arent consistant with it. They either dont dump them or sometimes dont bring them back...:wacko:

 

[Dre L]

Who cares, I got me a reusable aluminum bottle and a tap filter from PUR. Works out to 10-15 cents a gallon now, where I was paying upwards of $1 per gallon for bottled. The filters are rated over 100 gallons, and while I never measured it, I go for several months on 1 filter, and we were going through 24 gallons per month on drinking water.



Now I filter the coffee water, the tea water, the cooking water,



Do the math, shop a filter pack at BJ's or Costco.



Plus, I'm "green" now and all the environmental chicks with hairy armpits dig me.:lol:

 

[Todd Z]

NYS wins....... More tax money, more money in the states pocket..



Now don't get me wrong, I like it, simply due to the fact, i recycle, Work for an environmental company and people profit from recycling thrown out cans.



Not to mention all the jobs in the sorting facility's and the places being built using automatic sorters !!!!



Keeps people working..



Todd Z

 

[Todd Cloutier]

I use a stainless steel water bottle filled with filtered Erie county tap water. Mmmmm, Lake Erie water. The bottled water deposit doesn't bother me, but I doubt it will encourage more people to recycle.

 

[buzz worth]

I do the same as you eddie. My locals charge for any recyclable pickup in my area. Sounds like they make $$$ on both sides of that deal.

One of the radio talking heads said the other day that if the "gov" gets a "fat tax" added to sugar drinks, they will make a fortune since millions of cans/bottles are sold daily.



What else can they tax? (Scuse me whilst I go put on Rubber Soul.....I need to hear George Harrison's "Taxman")



buzz

 

[Todd Cloutier]

If it's in NY State, they'll find a way to tax it. What ever it is.

 

[Mark K 2]

I'm surprised that more places don't have mandatory recycling, especially in the 21st century. We've had it here for over 20 years. And it's free. The garbage company (who does the recycling) even gives you free curbside bins...as many as you need. In fact, if the garbage men hear or see cans or bottles in your garbage they can and do refuse to take it away until it's sorted.

 

[Tom Schindler]

on the other side, someone is making a profit on this, guess who?

Do your part and recycle your bottles. If someone is foolish enough to pay for bottled water in the first place, they deserve to pay more. Make a few extra bucks and pull out empty water bottles out of the trash and turn them back in.

We've had it here for over 20 years. And it's free. The garbage company (who does the recycling) even gives you free curbside bins...as many as you need. In fact, if the garbage men hear or see cans or bottles in your garbage they can and do refuse to take it away until it's sorted.

Our refuse collector (City) gives you a recycle bin and a $5.00/month discount if you recycle. We just throw cardboard and glass in it. The aluminum cans go to ACBC (Aluminum Cans for Burned Children). It helps children that get burned get treatment, medication, etc.





Tom

 

[Kevin Lang]

Recycling is never free



Though it is a good idea, if only it could somehow turn a profit, and around here free bins are provided by the county for the once-a-week recycling truck to come by and pick up. They're not too picky on sorting though, which makes me wonder how much really gets recycled, as I doubt they're going to separate everything at the recycling plant. Personally I segregate my recyclables per spec, but I'm the only one on the street who does



Is it better for my tax dollars to pay for recycling a product and putting it back in the market, or for them to pay for a landfill to dump them in? An interesting question, but we know which is cheaper.



(Acknowledged that Aluminum is the only exception to the rule in that it can be recycled and turn profit without need of subsidization)

 

[Tom Schindler]

Penn & Teller had a show that covered recycling. People think recycling is better for the environment, but that isn't always the case.





Tom

 

[Mark K 2]

There's a company around here that buys the green and clear plastic beverage bottles and makes them into lawn and deck furniture and decking boards. The recycling company also uses them to make more recycling bins and wheelie bins for the garbage.

 

[user 62394]

We've had the 10 cent deposit on soda and beer bottles in Michigan for as long as I can remember (still don't have it on water bottles though). I hate it, simply due to the pain in the rear and mess factor. I drink alot of Diet Coke. I have a bunch of bags of empty bottles in my basement waiting to be taken to the store to get the deposit back. Then I have to load them up in the truck and spend 20 minutes or whatever feeding them into the machine. I think it bites.



I would much rather just add them to the curbside recycling.



My two cents.



Rocks

 

[TomT]

I would love to see reusable containers with deposits on every type of drink in America. I remember when I was a kid and used to seek old coke bottles along side the roads and turn them in for their deposit. I'll bet stupid lazy Americans wouldn't be so quick to litter then.

 

[Jacob Dryer]

MTU - Most of my family doesn't like dealing with it either, but there are several non-profits that will take them off your hands gladly. That's what my family does.



I don't know if there is any truth to it or not, but I always heard than when they started it in MI that road side litter went down significantly.



I'm all for recycling as long as it isn't a pain. At our house here in WA, the trash company picks up everything and claims to sort it all for recycling purposes.. I don't know how true that is either. They say they sort every single bag of trash though.



I kind of liked how CA handled cans/bottles.. I had to sort them by material and if glass by color also, but then they were weighed and I was paid.. pretty easy and not to messy if you sort as you drink them instead of at the dirty facility.

 

[EddieS'04]

JD, I was impressed with the recycling in Almeda,CA. When I visited my Sis-inlaw.

 

[user 62394]

JDB -- I usually give mine to the Boy Scouts, because they will pick them up from my front porch. Still gotta have them sitting around until they come by though. I have on occasion showed up at the store to return them and have given them to either a kid or someone who needs the money.



I think it is a fair statement that roadside litter went down initially when Michigan added the deposit law (I was pretty young). I don't think that the 10 cents has the same effect on that now that it did then, however. I'm seeing more litter now than I remember as a kid (that may have more to do with where I am living though).



I like what you describe in California.

 

[Kevin Lang]

I remember when I was a kid and used to seek old coke bottles along side the roads and turn them in for their deposit. I'll bet stupid lazy Americans wouldn't be so quick to litter then.

Because in years past there was a time when the 2-10 cent deposit could actually do something for you, but thanks to inflation, it does nothing, and littering is still easier than collecting. Shoot, most people wouldn't pick up a dime even...I pick em up, but I get a vengeance stomp on FDR first



If I had enough bottles to be worth something in DE where the deposit is IIRC 2 cents, I'd try to turn them in over there and see if they'd give me anything, even though they weren't purchased there.



Getting paid to recycle sounds ok, it would get more people to recycle, but since we all have to pay to recycle, when everyone recycles, where will the money come from to continue it?



Caymen, I'm surprised that you'd watch Penn & Teller's show. That recycling episode was fresh on my mind when I read through this.

 

[Todd Z]

which makes me wonder how much really gets recycled, as I doubt they're going to separate everything at the recycling plant.

The automatic machines have a 99% accuracy rate in sorting the plastics, paper or what ever it is programed to do.



The manual (People) sorters do a good job, but some does track through.... The haulers that take the separated items away heavily fine the towns and sorters if there is over a certain amount, Either weight, quantity, % or what ever of the wrong material..



They get it close enough.....



P.S _ my office and others I work with design sorting facility's and actually design and install the equipment for this....



Todd Z

 

[Jerry Abson 3]

Todd, I saw a program on Discovery (the bane of my wife!) on recycling, and it was plastic water bottles made back into shirts, polyester I think. Anyway, 5 bottles make one shirt. Pretty freekin cool!



Here in my neck of the woods, we have one large recycle 'bin' where cardboard, paper, bottles, cans, etc, get thrown in, every two weeks they pick up. We are being charged for it, and we are dinged if any gets into the regular trash.



Yea, I am not fond of paying for them to recycle, and then sell that recycle, but I am not complaining. Its amazing how much is recyclable when you see the size of our recycle bin compared to our garbage can, twice the size! And we fill the recycle everyweek to the top, not so with our garabage.



Oh, and in my office, they got rid of the large 5 gallon water bottles here, to cut down on landfill. Talk about a heated discussion! No one seems to understand that our water is probably the best this side of the Mississippi! Most folks here are sold on the whole 'if its bottled, its better' thing.



They couldn't understand how our chemically and mechanically filtered water was better then the 'filtered through reverse osmosis' bottled water was! Ah, thier bucks, not mine!