Deposit Laws as a Portion of the Reclamation Process:

Currently, our system for resource reclamation is a mess. During World War Two, US Citizens voluntarily scavenged for scrap metals and glass and recycled them for the war effort. Prior to World War Two and even today, Japan built nearly everything that required metal or glass from recycled materials. Today we have made some strides in to return to recycling materials, and as any foundry owner will tell you, the quality his product is much better when using recycled materials because there are fewer impurities to separate out.

In 1974 the people of the State of Michigan were moved to clean up their roadsides and waterways of recyclable materials, chiefly beverage containers, by placing a ten cent deposit on all soda and beer containers. Passed by a referendum to the States Constitution by the people themselves, the bottling industry fought with all the vigor their advertising dollars could spend. Yet, the reformation passed, and has been an overwhelming success. Deposit laws actually work, while voluntary recycling does not, because the consumer has no monetary motivation to recycle.

In comparison to deposit laws, mandatory recycling methods of handing out fines to those who refuse to recycle seems a draconian solution in comparison. Several states have since passed laws and referendums to mandate deposit laws. In those areas of the country, the less fortunate mow lawns, shovel snow, and scour ditches and trash cans for containers worth ten cents each. My childless elderly aunt used to my cousins and I in empty cans and bottles for chores she needed done.

While sixty cents a six pack may sound like allot of money, it is refunded upon return to any grocery store. Grocery stores gain business because the people returning the empties will usually shop with the money they receive. The bottlers make out well too. While Aluminum is worth far less than ten cents per can, their only investments are material handling equipment for returning the materials back to the bottle and can manufacturers. The trucks hauling the empties back to the bottler actually place less wear upon their rear tires as running empty trucks causes undo wear on the tires which cost more than two hundred dollars a piece. Multiplied by eighteen, times several hundred trucks and the savings can be astounding.

Mandating food and beverage container laws encompassing nearly everything on the grocers shelf would reduce solid waste disposal costs and space by more than thirty percent. The financial incentive to return containers will not negatively affect consumer prices of food as first claimed in Michigan in 1974. What it will do is to cause everyone in the solid waste creation train to work as a presorting team for resource reclamation.

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