Bottle Deposit Operation

[Zarathustra]

My parents recently moved up to Michigan, and I find myself driving up every now and then to say hi, go out to dinner, hit the lake, etc. They're in New Buffalo which is just barely over the southern border and thus a pretty quick drive for me.

What's recently occurred to me is that pop bottles with a deposit could all be turned in on any of my trips up for cash. I didn't think much of the prospect until I looked at a 500ml Mountain Dew bottle I had just finished drinking. As I was moving, my dad had stopped by with a case to help fill the afore-empty fridge (what a guy) :lol:. The bottle had a 10-cent deposit on it, and he had paid 10 dollars for the case.

24-pack : $10
Deposit per bottle: 10 cents
Cash value: $2.40

Now, a 24% rebate on the Mountain Dew I've bought is pretty enticing, and unlike the logistical nightmare of the Seinfeld episode where Newman and Kramer try to pull off the profit-via-bottles, it wouldn't cost me anything noticeable. I'm already making the trip so it'd be whatever pittance of gas is spent for the extra weight in the car.

So that's settled. I could just toss pop bottles into a big garbage bag and, once I had a good stock, drop them off at the local grocery story up by the 'rents for a bit of cash back. Now I hit a snag...

Some bottles don't list any deposit.

As someone who grew up in Illinois where a deposit has never been an issue, I never really paid attention to this. But now I see that 2-litre bottles, 20-oz, and other sizes in plastic don't seem to have any listed deposit value. Is there a standard for these items, or are they truly not part of the system?

Just hoping someone has some insight into this. I'd like to make the whole deposit operation work! *grins*

[[wcip]Angel]

I have no way of helping you, (I only know the Norwegian bottle deposit prices), but I just wanted to congratulate you on a great Seinfeld-related thread. May there be many more!:)


9999 bottles and cans in the truck
9999 bottles and cans
At 10 cents a bottle and 10 cents a can
we're pulling in 500 dollars a man

9998 bottles and cans in the truck
9998 bottles and cans
we fill up with gas, we count up our cash
9997 bottles and cans in the truck


Question: why do you have to drive across statelines to deposit bottles?

Question#2: Do you really need to know the exact amount you get for the bottles that don't list their deposit value? Couldn't you just deposit them and see what you get?:)

[Alram]

No soup for you!

click

[[wcip]Angel]

Consider me Homer Simpson. Can someone translate legislature into stupid?:P

[protoshoggoth]

Basically, different states have different deposits. Some have no deposit at all. Michigan has a large one, maybe the highest of them all, ten cents a bottle. So the idea is...well you get the basic idea.

You can only turn in a bottle that is labelled for return. The label implies that you paid a deposit and are thus entitled to some cash. But the soda bottlers can't be bothered with the overhead of labelling and inventory control of 50 different types of bottles. So they sorta try, to various degrees of offhandedness, to get bottles generally labelled for deposit states and non-deposit states. As far as I know they're not required to by law to do any of this, so it's a haphazard thing.

Bottom line is, without any illegal or quasi-legal action you might very easily be able to get the deposit-labelled bottles in states where you don't pay a deposit, or a lesser one.



Of course the real money is in making your own labels and re-labelling blanks! :shuriken:

[[wcip]Angel]

But .. eh.. why would some states maintain laws that discourage people from recyling their empty bottles and cans? Surely we can all agree that recyling stuff is a positive, no? I don't know how much you recycle in the states, but here we're nuts about it. We recycle almost everything.

* Bottles and cans are deposited for a small cash fee in return
* Bottles that can't be deposited (wine, fancy-schmancy imported soda) are placed in special containers strategically placed at gas stations and supermarkets.

There are also containers for:
* empty cans (not beer, but canned fruit and the like)
* Plastic

In addition, we have 3 types of garbage containers at all private residences:
* Black (regular garbage. This rarely fills up, because almost everything is recycled)
* Brown (discarded foodstuff)
* Green (paper)

We only get money for the first type of recyling (bottles and beer cans), but we're still pretty adamant about the rest of the recyling as well.

So it's a quite a surprise to hear that some states in the US don't fascilitate the recyling of cans and bottles by letting people get that deposit back.

[kandrathe]

Where I live we have no deposits, but most people recycle due to a sense of responsibility.

[protoshoggoth]

Angel' date='Oct 4 2006, 09:33 AM' post='118464']
So it's a quite a surprise to hear that some states in the US don't fascilitate the recyling of cans and bottles by letting people get that deposit back.

But if you buy a bottle in such a state you didn't pay the deposit in the first place. So there's nothing to "get back".

There's no national standard here, so various states have various levels of deposit.

[Munkay]

Angel' date='Oct 4 2006, 09:33 AM' post='118464']
But .. eh.. why would some states maintain laws that discourage people from recyling their empty bottles and cans? [...]So it's a quite a surprise to hear that some states in the US don't fascilitate the recyling of cans and bottles by letting people get that deposit back.

Fair questions Angel. Before I answer them though, I want to clarify a few things about US recycling programs.

Most states and towns have recycling programs. The specifics vary from area to area, but in general there is curb side recycling. The town provides (or charges in some small towns) a bin in which recyclable plastics, glass, and paper can be placed. Just like trash pick up, this bin is picked up once a week on the curb.

Additionally, some offices and apartment complexes are becoming more eco friendly, and offering recycling containers/bins for employees to use.

Now with that said, about the can deposits. Only a handful of states offer deposits:
5 Cent deposit -Hawaii, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Massachusetts, Maine, New York, Oregon, Vermont.
10 Cent deposit - Michigan

10 out of 50 is a pretty small ratio. But the reason for such a low percentage doesn't have to do with a hatred for recycling. Most states feel they have recycling under control in other forms - the abovementioned system, etc - and the deposit system is a bit archaic. The deposit system was developed for glass bottles, to both cut costs of making new ones and also to keep them from filling up waste dumps. Recycling has changed shape a bit since this time, though the tradition lives on because it does help recycling.

Personally? I recycle all my bottles in the large bins my housing complex provides. The downside? I never see a penny of that deposit back. But everytime I buy a six pack of beers the deposit charge is tacked on. Money I'll never see;)

Cheers,

Munk

[Munkay]

As I see it, the question is less about is it a good idea and more about volume of cans you can carry cross state lines. You certainly won't get rich off this scheme, but it could give you some quick and easy spending money.

Next time you are in Michigan, check into grocery stores. Most stores who recycle cans do it through automated machines. As long as a can that has no printed deposit matches the same dimensions of a can that does have a deposit, you're golden.

Cheers,

Munk

Ps. Now if only you could funnel the collosal can producing power of Fraternities into a collection bin... :lol:

[Maitre]

As I see it, the question is less about is it a good idea and more about volume of cans you can carry cross state lines. You certainly won't get rich off this scheme, but it could give you some quick and easy spending money.

Next time you are in Michigan, check into grocery stores. Most stores who recycle cans do it through automated machines. As long as a can that has no printed deposit matches the same dimensions of a can that does have a deposit, you're golden.

Cheers,

Munk

Ps. Now if only you could funnel the collosal can producing power of Fraternities into a collection bin... :lol:

I have two anecdotal pieces of evidence that should be mentioned:
1. I went to college at Syracuse in central New York and had some friends from Michigan. On one of their trips home, a bunch of us tried to load up their car with bottles and cans and make a quick few bucks. Long story short: no dice. Bottles/cans purchased in NY were not accepted by the automatic machine that our friends attempted to use (or that's what they told us:unsure:).
2. When I used to live in Massachisetts, our family would take vacations to Virginia (now I live in Virginia and have no time for vacationing, Ahh sweet irony). On these trips we would end up buying provisions in multiple states, and some would make the trip back because they had enough remaining that it was too much to waste. When bottles or cans made the trip back, surprise surprise, they would not be accepted by the automatic redemption machines at the local grocery store in MA.

In my experience, grand plans aside, "No deposit, no return" seems to ring true. The issue in this case is the barcode which is scanned by the automatic redemption machines. If the propoer family of codes is not present, then no financial reward. YMMV with live oporator redemption situations.

On to current status: as I said, I now live in VA (and have no time for vacationing, what's up with that anyway?) a no-deposit state. We do have curbside recycling, but the rules are a bit flukey. Newspapers will be accepted, but only if bundled with string. Cardoard will be accepted, but only if broken down flat with dimensions not to exceed x" by y", also bundled with string. Bottles (glass and plastic) and cans will be accepted, but only if not crushed/broken, nor will they be accepted if contained within a plastic bag. Given these rules, I'm left to believe that the recycling process for newsprint and cardboard requires string as one of the reagents and the county is too cheap to provide their own, that broken glass and crushed plastic or aluminum is completely useless, and that the powers of the recycling gods can be blocked by simple plastic bags. On the other hand, the supermarket gods have among their powers the collection of plastic bags for recycling. Woe to us all if these two pantheons align: what will become of us then?

[Munkay]

[...]

*Shock and awe*

Thanks for the post Maitre. I've never experienced deposit machines outside of MA, and apparently have given the wrong information out! Unmarked bottles matching the dimensions *sold within the same state* should still work. Though, of course, this means little for your recycling aspirations.

More proof that you should never attempt any of the schemes tried on Seinfeld.

Cheers,

Munk

[Concillian]

Now with that said, about the can deposits. Only a handful of states offer deposits:
5 Cent deposit -Hawaii, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Massachusetts, Maine, New York, Oregon, Vermont.
10 Cent deposit - Michigan

We pay deposits in California too.
4 cents for containers < 24 ounces
8 cents for containers > 24 ounces

[Maitre]

*Shock and awe*

Thanks for the post Maitre. I've never experienced deposit machines outside of MA, and apparently have given the wrong information out! Unmarked bottles matching the dimensions *sold within the same state* should still work. Though, of course, this means little for your recycling aspirations.

More proof that you should never attempt any of the schemes tried on Seinfeld.

Cheers,

Munk

I should clarify. My experience is that the barcode prevents system manipulation using out of state purchases, however, I should have mentioned that these experiences were 8-10 years ago, so things may have changed, but generally technology advances to close loopholes, rather than to open them (MS Windows excluded). My experience was simply that "your local Coca-Cola" bottler has stepped in to prevent exploitation by marking their bottles in was the consumer might not notice, but the computer will. Still size and shape may be the only thing that matters to a real live person operating a redemption center;)

[Alram]

If you really want to make a fortune, I suggest that you make a coffee table book about coffee tables that has fold out legs and turns into a coffe table. Oops--been done already