Hacker News Reader

Comment by edwhitesell | Hacker News Reader

The state of Michigan had (has?) deposits of $0.10 US on all bottles & cans when I grew up there. I never noticed how much it kept bottles, cans and other items from becoming litter along roads and parking lots until I lived in states with no deposit. It was a nice incentive to go out and pick up trash, because the cans/bottles can really add up.

View on HN

Michigan still does, mom was scolding me a few months back when I was visiting because the automated machines don't take crushed cans/bottles. Where I live I have no financial reason to recycle them, but I am incentivized to reduce the volume to decrease frequency of trips to the recycler.

Still has it. You can really see how helpful this is by going to a sporting event with beer and open bleachers. You will see children running around collecting the cans just about as fast as you can drop them. It's a double win because the people drinking can be lazy and the kids get the money.

Similarly to how Austin banned single use plastic bags. When I visit other cities, I notice them everywhere, stuck in fences, trees and bushes, along roads, under overpasses, etc...

They call it urban tumbleweed.

And where people care about keeping their town clean, tax money gets spent on removing the tumbleweed[1]. Which is why these bag bans are a general good thing.

Source: http://1bagatatime.com/learn/plastic-bag-clean-costs/

Since plastic bags have to cost 5p in England (except small supermarkets), the use decreased by ~85%. Shows how many of these are given out even though they're not needed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-36917174

Reply on news.ycombinator.com