So from my understanding and experience in the State of Maine the state levy's a tax of something like 5, 10 or 15 cents on certain kinds of bottles, mainly plastic and tin. I think wine bottles are 15 cents and plastic coke bottles are 5, at least in Maine. The charge is passed onto the consumer who can then take their used bottles to a recycling center, like "Clynks," where you can redeem your deposit or consumers can simply trash them.
With nothing to cite whatsoever haha, I believe this tax did have a strong impact on the people living in Maine from the many observations of people placing beer cans in recycling bins at parties and the fact that the recycling bins at my friends were usually only for plastics or glass (the very things that had a tax) and little to no paper or cardboard or tin cans. Many times I have seen homeless or less fortunate individuals collecting these taxed items from the neighborhood trashcans and dumpsters in order to trade them in. I thought that this was an effective system for creating a incentive to recycle and reduce the amount of trash produced.
Therefore, I was a bit confused when I arrived in the Philippines and saw that there was a deposit on the glass bottles for soda like coca-cola but instead of passing the cost of the deposit onto the consumer the sari-sari stores of the Philippines tend to empty that glass bottle into a small plastic bag with a plastic straw (Recently a couple of older friends told me that they used to use paper straws when they were a kid, weird right haha) and keep the glass bottle.They keep the glass bottle because they do not want to lose the deposit that they owe to the soda company. The result of this slightly different system is the production of alot of plastic baggies and straws that usually just get thrown to the ground and cost the sari-sari store some amount of money to purchase.
What if the sari-sari stores passed the cost of the deposit onto the consumer and gave them the glass bottle? Then they would always have the deposit that they owe the soda or beer company and there would be less trash production. There would also be additional jobs if/when bottle deposit facilities opened up.
My first concern was the shifting of cost to a population that is already struggling. However, the sari-sari stores are always (I think) family owned and struggle just as well. The sari-sari store's cost would be reduced because they wouldn't have to buy hundreds of plastic baggies and straws. My second thought was about the differences between a state bottle deposit and a company bottle deposit. What are the differences and would that affect the deposit system?
Just a thought....
2 comments:
What about the time it takes to transfer the bottle to the plastic bag, that has to be a cost to the store owner, do they figure that in on the savings/cost? Wendy would not stand for that, she would not buy the drink if that happen. We recycle everything we can, Krystal knows this about Wendy. Once a year Wendy cleans up our road with her little red wagon. Wendy, Em and I did it this past spring and will be doing it again, it's kinda cool to do. She has open my eyes to alot of the environment.
Hello Matt,
I really think the focus should be on educating man kind about garbage. Information should be everywhere. Pull boards, ect. One big question where do you put your garbage?? Then show ways to recycle and the big pit full of garbage. I truly believe man kind just does not get it. We created a generation of smoke free, through education. We should do the same about garbage and were to put it. Just a thought!.... Peace and stay safe. Love MUM C
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