You know what's kinda genius? Germany's Pfand or bottle recycling policy. Seriously. Stay with me.Pfand translates literally to "deposit." It's a small extra charge you pay when you purchase a bottle of water, beer, etc. Then when you bring the empty bottle back to the store, you get the change back. For example, for every 39 cents I pay for a bottle of bubble water they tack on a 15 cent deposit, bringing my total to 54 cents. When I return the bottle, I get those 15 cents back. Some smaller bottles you buy in convenience stores have Pfands of up to 25 cents. So there is definitely incentive to recycle rather than toss empty bottles into the trash or worse, on the street. This is the first reason why I think this policy is pretty nifty.
Secondly, they make it really convenient to bring back your old bottles. Pretty much every supermarket has a Pfand machine AND you don't need to take bottles back to the exact store where you originally purchased them. You just throw the bottles in and then the machine gives you a receipt to take up to the cashier (see photo at top of post). You either walk out with the sum or use it as a credit toward your grocery purchase that day.
Bottles waiting patiently on my kitchen windowsill to be taken back to the store:
My local supermarket's machine:
Getting my receipt:
The third reason I think this policy is so smart is that it not only keeps some litter off the street but gives those "on the street" an easy way to make some money. Drinking in public is allowed here, so at pretty much all times of the day you see people with beers on the subway or the street. I saw one woman headed to the Borussia-Hertha football game with her own bottle of sparkly. When the clubbers head out for the night they drink en route on the subway or bus and in line at the disco. Since they can't take the bottles inside with them, and don't want to lose their place in line, most just place them on the ground. I know, this sounds like littering. But because of the financial incentive, there are always people roaming the streets and trash cans for empty bottles to make a few extra cents. And a lot of the time, these are homeless people who could really use the pocket change.This man was at the Borussia-Hertha game last weekend collecting empty bottles off the street. He was going to make BANK:
4 comments:
Massachusetts does this too. No big deal, they're kind of ahead of the game up there. I think it's just that there are a lot of really smart people born in MA. There are some good schools up there too, ever been?
Yeah a few states do, huh? But not this systematically, and not with the machines everywhere as far as I know.
And yes, I actually went to school in Boston last year. A small one, though, you've probably never heard of it.
First - I love the comment about your university. :)
Second - Connecticut does this too. I used to LOVE going with my mom to return bottles. We'd keep them in garbage bags in the basement and then go one every month or every other month...and sometimes she'd let me keep the change! When I was 10, this was the BEST!
The deposit in MI is 10 cents, and for most things it works great. Sometimes I buy weird beer for Zach, and those little-known brands have to be returned at the same store where I bought them. Most of our bottle accumulation is from the pop and Monster that Jeremy's band consumes. I let him return the bottles and keep the change. Economic incentive.
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