[News] Return deposit on bottles.

Herr Tubthumper said:

I took this from a website:

“Essentially, the German Pfand system is a cycle. The drinks manufacturer fills his product, for example, beer or water, into returnable bottles. These bottles, and the contents, are sold to wholesalers or retailers. The wholesaler or retailer pays a deposit to the producer. This deposit is then passed on directly to the customer in the form of a surcharge. In the case of wholesalers, there is an extra step in the chain as he passes this on to individual retailers such as your local kiosk. As end customers, we then pay this deposit, or Pfand, to the supermarket, kiosk, Getränkemarkt or whoever and we get it back when we return the bottles. “

And to complete the cycle I presume the original producer then buys bottles back with the deposit money they originally received from wherever they were returned to.

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The Large One said:

I think you're missing his point.

He's asking how one of the parties on the council would stop him buying two bottles of Pepsi Max in Poundland, when no-one (except him) has ever suggested they would.

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BensGrandad said:

Is that not what control is about stopping people buying the goods and if they do disposing of the bottles in the correct manner. If its not then I have misunderstood the aims.

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BensGrandad said:

I would ask again. Or we going back to my childhood when beer and lemonade bottles had 3d deposit on and we took them back to the offie.

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Cheshire Cat said:

Returns are a good idea as long as it doesn't ruin existing kerbside recycling.

If I have to take a trip to a recycling bank or tip every time I want to discard some plastic, this would mean a car trip to and from (added pollution and expense), so I probably wouldn't bother unless I was taking a huge load or was dumping a car load of other stuff there. If I can discard plastic with my other fortnightly recycling with little or no bother I will. Getting a nominal deposit won't encourage me to make specific trips to a bottle bank unless it is within easy (walking) reach.

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