In America today, eleven states have implemented bottle bill legislation. The bottle bills cause consumers to place a monetary deposit on the cans and bottles that they purchase and once they return those cans and bottles, the deposit is returned. Typically, the bills were put into place as part of a litter abatement process. Now, many states are looking to expand the reach of the bill to include items such as: water bottles, sports drinks, and juice containers. They feel that expansion of their current bottle bills will cause less plastics and other resources of this nature to end up in landfills and will create green jobs as more workers will be needed at recycling facilities.
Others, such as manufacturers of sports drinks, are extremely opposed to expansion of bottle bills. They are not in favor of increasing the amount consumers have to pay for their products, even if the consumer will have the money redeemed once they return the container. They also state that the places people must take their containers to be recycled, typically grocery stores or large retail stores, create health hazards and take up unnecessary space within stores.
How do you feel about this; what is your two-cents on the situation? Do you feel that it is best to protect our landfills and create green job by implementing/diversifying the contents of bottle bills? Or do you feel that this should not be done because it will be too much hassle and we should focus on increasing the amount of curbside recycling available in our communities?
