People picking through trash beats recyclables going to the landfill. (assuming the trash-pickers don't pull trash out of the can and throw it on the ground in their haste to find recyclables, anyway) So from that perspective, I'm glad someone is doing it.
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.
> 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.
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)
I haven't seen the "un-vending" machines outside of NY.
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.
I think that places where I live (Norway) have to take back the bottles that they sell in their store - even gas stations - but the only place I see the machines is at the grocery stores. (Grocery stores are generally smaller but more convenient than they were in the US).
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.
It does vary quite a bit in implementation, with corresponding differences in results.
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.
I agree with your second statement. I've never known anyone in the US that is employed+housed that keeps their bottles for returns.
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.
We always saved ours and returned them when I was a kid in Michigan - they were about 10 cents each and were returned to the grocery store where you bought it. I also remember we once had a teacher in high school tell us he made $1000 picking up cans, and a smart-ass kid asked if he reported that on his taxes.
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.
dunno why you're being downvoted. I had homeless people rummage through my trash. at first I was ok with it but they would just leave it strewn out everywhere like racoons and I'd have to clean it up. so I had to lock it up.
The alternative might be to lock up everything but leave the cans in a separate bag for the people who want to collect them? Aluminum's one of the few things that does get recycled well and it's pretty energy intensive to get new aluminum. That's the one I always try to recycle, plastic and the rest... I'm not convinced it doesn't end up in the landfill anyways.
Aluminum is usually sorted out to recycling. Unless the volume is really low, the economics are there: there's demand for used aluminum, it's easy to sort out, and in many places trash collection has state goals for diversion that may need to be met.
if they had come around and put everything back after, I would have been fine with leaving it separate to make it easier for them. waking up to a massive trash pile strewn about everywhere made me lose all respect for these people.
Ha, ya, you and the rest of society, really going to great lengths to make life harder for the people digging through trash for a nickel a can... I have a feeling maybe that you're really kind of asking for a lot from the people who're probably the least well off in our society... Do you think the person digging through your trash feels respected ever?
> going to great lengths to make life harder for the people digging through trash for a nickel a can.
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.
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.