I save mine and redeem mine religiously at Can Shed. I'm urban so see no issue. I can't speak for others.
Can/Bottle Redemption
- Thread starter mkadl
- Start date
I really fail to see the argument that anyone is "getting screwed" or being "taxed"
You choose to buy a product knowing full well ahead of time that there is a deposit (not a tax) on the container. You likely also know, at the time of purchase, if and where you can redeem the containers to get the deposit back. Then you are choosing to either redeem the container and get the deposit back or to do something else with it.
So, if it's that big a deal to you, change your behavior.
You choose to buy a product knowing full well ahead of time that there is a deposit (not a tax) on the container. You likely also know, at the time of purchase, if and where you can redeem the containers to get the deposit back. Then you are choosing to either redeem the container and get the deposit back or to do something else with it.
So, if it's that big a deal to you, change your behavior.
It's not the DNRs job to check every retailer who sells beverages to see if they are taking bottles and cans back. It's the DNRs job to approve redemption centers and waivers for businesses who have redemption centers within a reasonable distance. Local law enforcement and county attorneys handle complaints of violation of the law.
Exactly. I buy 55 gallon barrels of race fuel and they charge a $30 barrel deposit unless you have a barrel to trade in. No different.
Metal recyclers take car style batteries, I don't know if they do house style batteries AAA etc....
I also consider it part of the "cost" of drinking the beverage. I generally recycle the glass, and put cans in trash bags. And our school does a can drive once or twice a year. And sometimes the boy scouts.
It's not worth my time to redeem them.
It's not worth my time to redeem them.
I remember talking to the workers/owners of the redemption center in Perry and they said that they only get 1 cent per can for dealing with it. They said at that price it is hard to get a person to work in that type of environment and can't afford to pay a high wage. It is also hard to pay for a newer/cleaner area when they are struggling to stay open. I would put them in the recycling but I live in Ankeny and my recycling is only every 2 weeks and I overfill my recycling every time as it is. There is a can redemption center in North Des Moines but it is only open for a few hours a day and like 3 days a week so it is hard to get to. HyVee always has a line/machines full. Sometimes I drive by and see it is full and just keep driving. I just wish they would do away with it. I know in Minnesota people crush cans and sell them for scrap aluminum. Maybe that is the best way to go.
The handling fee has always been the issue. It has never been increased and has made making money in the redemption business impossible. It used to be a profitable business for the first 10 years or so of the law. That's why the remaining ones today go off of weight or just plain guessing. Both are in violation of the law, but since no one will do anything about it, well...
It was all about cleaning the ditches. The year was 1978. I am in agreement that the law should be abolished. There are recycling programs in place, and habits have definitely changed. I took cans in this fall. A few years' worth. It was a PITA to even find a place, and they just took a guess and gave me probably 65 cents on the dollar. Now they all go in the trash.
If you live in Ankeny there is a trailer in the NW corner of the north Fareway where you can put cans for donations for the local Cub Scouts.
Yep, pretty sad in many ways.
AND
It is a proven fact that there is LESS stuff in those ditches because of the can redemption laws.
Maybe we should have an ALL packaging redemption law?
OR fix the system to get everyone paid accordingly. You are suggesting that since something doesn't pencil out, you should stop doing it. I get that. But, if every business ran that way, we would have literally no products or services available. Nothing would pencil out if prices did not increase to keep up with inflation.
Maybe instead, raise the rate to make it worth people's while to make it work. $.05 might not be worth it anymore. That amount was calculated when a loaf of bread cost $.50, $1 for the fancy stuff. The cumulative inflation rate has been 205.8% since then. $1 in 1981 = $3.05 today. Maybe instead of letting a law get outdated and saying we shouldn't have it cause we can't make the numbers work, we should adjust so it does. I'm not sure if an extra nickel or dime per container would make it float, but I've heard it is less than a penny that is causing the problem.
I think everyone would really like to still pay 1981 rates for everything with our 2022 salaries. I know I would. But, alas time moves on and money loses value. Even the almighty nickel.
1981 would solve a lot of the beer cans in ditches. Cut two years off the 16-20 year olds that are getting rid of the evidence that they have been drinking.
Until we get our trash 100% sorted, this is a sad and selfish way to go about disposing of no longer needed materials.
I would hope that people would learn that we do not have an unlimited amount of ANYTHING on this planet. Aluminum (or more accurately its core components) is a finite resource. I could see throwing away mixed recyclables that are hard to take apart (I'd like to see manufacturers get better at making this a non-issue), but cans of any sort, bottle, boxes, cardboard, etc. are just too easy to sort to be anything than sheer laziness or inconvenience on anyone's part not to sort them.
If we want a society that can live far into the future, we need to start taking care of all the resources we have, from clean water and air, to the soil, to the materials we use to support our crazy consume and throw away culture.
I think back to my uncle who used a neat little tool to crush his cans with his foot in the garage, he didn't drink soda, but he put a lot of Miller Lite away. Anyway, he was the son of a depression era family that lost 2 farms on their way to moving into a small house in town in later retirement. What was interesting about him is that if you tried to implement this law in Texas, he would put up a tremendous stink and fight, but he would do it. Because he had frugality built in. He didn't throw his cans away even though there was no redemption bill, because, "those crushed cans are worth money at the recyclers." But, you can't count on everyone having depression era parents anymore. Just a lot of people who don't care about a $ OR the earth.
Yeah, I think that is still happening. I suspect that is where the $10 worth of cans in our rural ditch come from every fall when my wife and I walk our gravel road (that is outside of town far enough AND right off a 4 lane). Never have caught them, but boy are the consistent on the large size of containers and low quality of what is contained.
Frankly recycling people cause some of the issues. I’m there are to many little things that they want to worry about and sometimes people just say it isn’t worth my time to figure out what is recyclable
I always take cans back but other stuff tends to be confusing. If I’m not sure I tend to throw it away as well don’t want to contaminate the other stuff.
For those that recycle a lot of their refuse, you may want to double check. The local city thought they were doing well with their major company collecting their recycling they were paying for. One time the council member followed the recycling truck and ended up at the landfill. Turned out it company said the dump was cheaper than recycling. They changed companies then. It a pretty well known company though.