Deposit schemes for stuff like bottles are great, I don’t know why more places don’t do them
Not really. I think only 10 states have plastic bottle deposits, and I have really no clue if those are convenient for folks. I'm not from one of those states: You could take aluminum cans to get money, but it isn't convenient.
(In my current location, I can just take plastic and aluminum bottles to a grocery store to get the deposit back by feeding them into a machine. And most folks do this)
We have to take everything to the recycling center, wait in a long-ass line and they pay by weight, not item.
It's not worth my time to bring single bags nor worth the space to hoard them at home so I just trade them to the neighborhood homeless guy for expired dog food and other sundries.
And it is by item - less money for small bottles (single serve soda, for example) and more money for larger bottles (1L of soda or juice). Aluminum is similar.
In Michigan (10c deposit), grocery stores have dedicated areas for machines that receive the bottles and give you the credit back. I grew up setting cans aside for return (and having dedicated bins for folks parking for sport events, with proceeds going towards e.g. Cub Scouts and similar)
In CA (5c deposit), apparently you have to take your recyclables to a recycle center, where I think they pay based on weight. I've never bothered.
And it is true there will be people picking through public trash cans, in both situations.
On the other hand, in Belgium it's pretty normal to keep your case of empty beer bottles and return them at the grocery store when you go the next time.
There's definitely something cultural at play. I wonder if the strong capitalistic ideals in the US make it seem like a low-return effort or if it's looked down upon like going through trash. We also simply waste a lot of things in the US (food, throw-away culture, fast casual clothing, disposable electronics), so it may just be an extension of that too.
But this varies a lot state-to-state. In San Francisco, it seemed to be the poor with carts picking up cans. (And the recycling company wanted you to report people for digging through the bins.) I think the deposit was rather low there and had no idea where you can return them to.
But on the other hand, it's tragic that people are so desperate for the small sums to be had from recycling that they spend their days digging through other peoples' trash like that.
Not all of them are destitute. There are collectors who now own homes thanks to bottle and can deposits. My neighbors across the street moved in few years ago and I saw the garage open - front to back, side to side, top to bottom PACKED with bags of bottles and cans. Thousands of them. Spoke to their neighbor and they told him collecting bottles paid for most of the house. Few blocks down there's an apartment building with ground level garages and again, one of them is fully packed with bags of bottles and cans - plans in motion. This is in NYC too.
Imagine how clean the planet would be if all packaging had a deposit.
I hate this bleeding heart crap. As I said before, If they went though it and CLEANED UP after themselves, I woulda turned a blind eye or maybe even set the cans aside in the future. These assholes made me spend my Saturday morning cleaning up trash scattered all over my front yard. You're damn right I'n not going to life a finger to help them.
you ever stop for a second and think that maybe there's a reason no one respects them?
PS: all for expanding the social safety net and creating programs to give people who want a leg up but I have no sympathy for people who Choose to be homeless and be a permanent drain on society. SF already spends more money per capita on homeless than students. enough is enough.
Even in the small town where I live upstate, some folks deposit cans for a bit of extra income. It's a useful program.