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UK 'could adopt Norway recycling system'
A Scandinavian system for recycling bottles is thought likely to be adopted in the UK. Advisers to government say the schemes have massively reduced plastic litter in the environment and seas. And a ministerial delegation has been to Norway to see if the UK should copy an industry-led scheme that recycles 98% of bottles. In the UK, figures show that only around half of all plastic bottles get recycled.
Norway claims to offer the most cost-efficient way of tackling plastic litter. The Norwegian government decided the best method would be to put a tax on every bottle that's not recycled - then leave the operating details of the scheme up to business.
It works like this: the consumer pays a deposit on every bottle, from 10p to 25p depending on size. They return it empty and post it into a machine which reads the barcode and produces a coupon for the deposit. If the careless consumer has left liquid in the bottle, the machine eats it anyway - but hands the deposit to the shopkeeper who'll need to empty the bottle.
Similar schemes are in operation in other Nordic nations, Germany, and some states in the US and Canada.
(Score: 2) by dry on Thursday February 08 2018, @02:16AM
Yea, collecting bottles used to be profitable. When they went to a nickel here, a chocolate bar was still a dime, and likewise, when they went to a dime, a chocolate bar was around a quarter.
30 odd years later, I took a couple of garbage bags of bottles, cans, juice boxes etc into the bottle depot, seems most stores no longer take bottles, and got about 5 bucks. Those small bottles/cans are still worth a dime and the bottle depot only gives you half the value, and a chocolate bar at a corner store is probably $2.
Felt I'd wasted my time taking them in compared to just throwing them in the recycling and really wonder about the homeless who I see with big bags of bottles/cans that they take from peoples recycling boxes, fuck they must have to work to get anything.