Bottle deposits

[mercalia]

what a stupid idea. In Lambeth we have got used to using recycle bins outisde our houses where we put plastic bottles/paper etc - easy way to recycle. Now I have to take back single bottles or fill my panniers with bottles to a shop maybe 2 miles away. Not sure I can be bothered talkk about turning the clock back

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-43563164

[pwa]

It will need facilities in shopping streets or outside supermarkets. There isn't room in many shops.

[AlaninWales]

You can't be bothered to take the empty bottle back to the shop you bought it from (or a nearer one which you'd be visiting anyway)?

Mixed recycling plastic, whilst a Good Thing in that it gives a chance for some recycling, has a low percentage success because of the contamination of the recyclable bottles by (at least) other non-recyclable plastics. This scheme eases and provides incentive for recycling that should achieve a higher rate of recycling and achieves this not by causing increased travel, but by encouraging the return of the bottles to where they were purchased (rather than as too many do, dumping them in the road).

Of course if you don't want the deposit back and don't care about increasing recycling rates, you are free to deposit them in the mixed plastics or indeed in 'non-recyclables' bag. I am sure there will be many others who also don't care and will continue to deposit them in hedgerows and verges .

[Mike Sales]

what a stupid idea. In Lambeth we have got used to using recycle bins outisde our houses where we put plastic bottles/paper etc - easy way to recycle. Now I have to take back single bottles or fill my panniers with bottles to a shop maybe 2 miles away. Not sure I can be bothered talkk about turning the clock back

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-43563164

The almost continuous trail of plastic bottles along the sides of all our roads seems to show that the present arrangements are not working very well.
Many years ago I was dossing in Glencoe (in order to climb ice) and me and a pal gathered enough money for a pint each by walking a few miles and picking up glass bottles which carried a deposit.

[Tiberius]

In Lambeth we have got used to using recycle bins outisde our houses where we put plastic bottles/paper etc - easy way to recycle

Yeah but....that's the whole point. YOU may well recycle responsibly, but plenty of people don't hence the need to incentivise people to recycle, by putting a returnable deposit on plastic bottles and cans.

Great idea and it can't come soon enough. Litter is a pet hate of mine and anything to minimise it gets my vote.

I remember the whole thing first time round. As kids we would scour the streets/bins etc for 'pop' bottles which we could take back to the local shop and get the deposit back.

Anyway, NO-ONE here will be throwing anything in the street if there is a refundable deposit on it....that's Yorkshire for you...

[Mike Sales]

It will need facilities in shopping streets or outside supermarkets. There isn't room in many shops.

The shops find room to sell the bottles. In the days of glass deposit bottles they somehow managed. Though I do recall stories of scallies taking bottles from pub back yards to clain the deposits.

[pwa]

It will need facilities in shopping streets or outside supermarkets. There isn't room in many shops.

The shops find room to sell the bottles. In the days of glass deposit bottles they somehow managed. Though I do recall stories of scallies taking bottles from pub back yards to clain the deposits.

Next time you are in a local convenience store have a look around and see if there is room for the sort of receptacle needed. Bearing in mind the struggle many have to cover the Business Rates and their natural reluctance to reduce stock to make space. Some sort of communal receptacle / machine would make most sense.

[Mick F]

Why have this fashion for drinks bottles anyway?
It is a fashion. We never had plastic drinks bottles before.

[pwa]

Why have this fashion for drinks bottles anyway?
It is a fashion. We never had plastic drinks bottles before.

A return to glass, you think? We'll all be on Marathon Double Plus then!

[rjb]

Why have this fashion for drinks bottles anyway?
It is a fashion. We never had plastic drinks bottles before.

A return to glass, you think? We'll all be on Marathon Double Plus then!

[mjr]

The shops find room to sell the bottles. In the days of glass deposit bottles they somehow managed. Though I do recall stories of scallies taking bottles from pub back yards to clain the deposits.

Next time you are in a local convenience store have a look around and see if there is room for the sort of receptacle needed. Bearing in mind the struggle many have to cover the Business Rates and their natural reluctance to reduce stock to make space. Some sort of communal receptacle / machine would make most sense.

I'm sure someone will come up with a smaller bottle-crushing machine for convenience stores if the commercial incentives are right. I think some of our European neighbours already have photo-booth-size bottle-crushers for medium and large stores:
[youtube]RLKmr0uVhWo[/youtube]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLKmr0uVhWo

It's a fantastic idea, so long overdue! We should have had a deposit on plastic bottles as soon as they started to displace glass deposit bottles.

[pwa]

The shops find room to sell the bottles. In the days of glass deposit bottles they somehow managed. Though I do recall stories of scallies taking bottles from pub back yards to clain the deposits.

Next time you are in a local convenience store have a look around and see if there is room for the sort of receptacle needed. Bearing in mind the struggle many have to cover the Business Rates and their natural reluctance to reduce stock to make space. Some sort of communal receptacle / machine would make most sense.

I'm sure someone will come up with a smaller bottle-crushing machine for convenience stores if the commercial incentives are right. I think some of our European neighbours already have photo-booth-size bottle-crushers for medium and large stores:
[youtube]RLKmr0uVhWo[/youtube]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLKmr0uVhWo

It's a fantastic idea, so long overdue! We should have had a deposit on plastic bottles as soon as they started to displace glass deposit bottles.

Is that all that's proposed though? Recycling rather than re-use? As I understand it plastics can only be recycled a limited number of times.

[Mike Sales]

Next time you are in a local convenience store have a look around and see if there is room for the sort of receptacle needed. Bearing in mind the struggle many have to cover the Business Rates and their natural reluctance to reduce stock to make space. Some sort of communal receptacle / machine would make most sense.

Whatever the size of the shop, somehow it is full of stock. Actually, it would be a poor shopkeeper who did not use all the space available to display the goods.
Shops sell the plastic to make money, and what happens to it afterwards is not their concern. They don't pay for disposal. I think that handling the returned empties is an essential part of the cycle, which should not stop the bottles being thrown into the hedgerow.
The waste will otherwise accumulate into a continuous roadside berm.
If the council actually cleaned the roads I would suggest that deposits would save money on the rates: but they don't.
Another example of externals.

[mjr]

Is that all that's proposed though? Recycling rather than re-use? As I understand it plastics can only be recycled a limited number of times.

I'm pretty sure that understanding is incorrect, within certain limits such as low cross-contamination which should be helped with a better collection system than the council mixed-junk bins... and some of the no-longer-recyclable-to-food-use stuff can still be recycled to other uses like park benches or play equipment.

It'll probably always be better to fill your own many-many-many-reuses water bottle from a tap than buy bottled water, though, and I think drinks cans and glass bottles can be recycled indefinitely, although more expensively and the glass also needs to be type-sorted, so is better cut up by machine to save space, rather than smashed. Some plastic bottle collection machines can process glass and cans too... but why would they unless we put deposits on all such containers?

[Psamathe]

Why have this fashion for drinks bottles anyway?
It is a fashion. We never had plastic drinks bottles before.

I have some magic device in my house called "a tap" - seems to have plenty of water inside so I don't need to buy plastic bottles with my water.

Ian