Money for old rubbish. (Waste disposal)

Member Name: moonbailey

Product:	Waste disposal
Date:	19/09/01 (27 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: cleaner environment, incentives for clearing litter, cheaper glass?

Disadvantages: collection needs reviewing

When are we going to wake up to recycling. Why is is such a voluntary, token gesture and not an accepted way of life for everyone?

So many other countries have a system in place already to make it easy as pie to recycle just about anything that can be recycled.

The easiest and most obvious substance is glass. So far in this country it has been up to us to keep bottles and jars back until we have the chance to drive out to a recycling collection point - (usually overflowing as it is) to do 'our bit' for the environment.

I've just visited Malta which has a significant rubbish problem that it is just beginning to deal with. But one thing you won't find by the roadside is glass. Why? Because when you buy your wine or beer - you pay a surcharge for the bottle it comes in.

When you've drunk it - you return your empties to the shop for a refund in the form of store credit.

The shops are rewarded for recycling in bulk by the loyalty this scheme produces through the credit rather than cash approach.

I assume that this means if anyone does forfeit their deposit by the side of the road - there are many people who would happily pick up others rubbish in return for store credit too. this means incentives to clear the streets ourselves.

The deposit paid was around 5p for beer bottles and 10p for wine.

My only concern would be to find a way to guarantee the shops recycle the returns - but I'm sure a collection from shopping centres and supermarkets would be easier to fund than a residential collection.

Once in place it would be nice to think this idea could spread to cans and plastic too.

I know the government has many more important issues on their mind at the moment but this problem has been swept under the carpet - or more precisely into landfills for too long and should be tackled as soon as possible.

Summary: