Are we going to go back to the old days

[Andy in Germany]

Like many commenting here I'm old enough to have collected and returned bottles as a kid. I don't know how much we got per bottle but it was obviously worth it.

20p? I can't see this having a serious impact on the problem. It's no great incentive, especially for those who currently chuck bottles in the hedgerow. My household is rigorous about recycling everything so I'm fully engaged but if local authorities continue to collect from the house I doubt I'd save bottles at 20p each especially as we probably only use 5 a month - at most.

What I would like to happen is either for household packaging to be banned (won't happen) or for retailers, supermarkets in particular, to be forced to take this back with a strong financial incentive for consumers.

I estimate 90% of my non-recyclable waste, landfill, is food and other household packaging. I would happily collect and return this.

I suspect it's as much to reduce litter, and you rarely see a plastic bottle dumped on the roadside here. This isn't because Germans are all socially and environmentally aware; you wouldn't believe the amount of Graffiti there is around the place.

 

[Fab Foodie]

About time why don't they impose a 100% return rate and failure to meet target and you are imprisoned

Doh!
Because the prisons will be overflowing after 24hrs. Best shoot and cremate I reckon 😉

 

[Mo1959]

Personally, I don’t see much point as long as the skies look like this!

 

[Alex321]

Personally, I don’t see much point as long as the skies look like this!


View attachment 675402

So not worth attempting to fix one problem because something else exists?

 

[oldwheels]

Light cloud and a fresh breeze today and temp is 9C at 9 o'clock this morning.
My front widows are very clean as an incontinent seagull left a large deposit on one so I had to go outside and clean it off while it was still wet. If you allow this to dry it is a pain to get off.
In theory I could do this from inside the house as the windows hinge inwards but if not used for a long time the catches do not work properly and I do not fancy having to wrestle with the things in winter.

 

[Sallar55]

The sky may have lots of aircraft flying about but you only see then for a few minutes. All the trash along the roadsides will take a millennium to decompose if not tidied up. Did you not say that you never had a passport 🤔

 

[Fab Foodie]

Personally, I don’t see much point as long as the skies look like this!


View attachment 675402

Did you see me between Vienna and Dusseldorf this morning?
Just landed....

 

[Tenkaykev]

I suspect it's as much to reduce litter, and you rarely see a plastic bottle dumped on the roadside here. This isn't because Germans are all socially and environmentally aware; you wouldn't believe the amount of Graffiti there is around the place.

I remember sitting in a park in Berlin with my daughter a few years ago. We had just finished our drink when a well dressed gentleman approached and asked if he might have our empty bottle. He placed it in a large carrier bag and wandered off. That was when I first became aware of the recycling culture in Germany. I became fascinated with the plastic bottle recycling machine in the small local supermarket, it would occasionally reject a bottle, I suppose it myst have scanned a code, though I thought at the time that it might be doing spectroscopic analysis 😄

 

[vickster]

Like many commenting here I'm old enough to have collected and returned bottles as a kid. I don't know how much we got per bottle but it was obviously worth it.

20p? I can't see this having a serious impact on the problem. It's no great incentive, especially for those who currently chuck bottles in the hedgerow. My household is rigorous about recycling everything so I'm fully engaged but if local authorities continue to collect from the house I doubt I'd save bottles at 20p each especially as we probably only use 5 a month - at most.

What I would like to happen is either for household packaging to be banned (won't happen) or for retailers, supermarkets in particular, to be forced to take this back with a strong financial incentive for consumers.

I estimate 90% of my non-recyclable waste, landfill, is food and other household packaging. I would happily collect and return this.

Don’t you have food/compostable recycling there?
Tesco and some other supermarkets now take soft plastics for recycling too (the ‘bins’ are well used at my local superstore)

 

[PaulSB]

Don’t you have food/compostable recycling there?
Tesco and some other supermarkets now take soft plastics for recycling too (the ‘bins’ are well used at my local superstore)

I do all my own food/compostable recycling as I have a large allotment and multiple compost heaps. Just read my post again and I see it's a bit ambiguous. I meant food packaging and household packaging. I would never send food to landfill, it gets eaten or composted.

I know some supermarkets do recycle soft plastics but I've never noticed it locally. I don't know about Tesco as it's a company I do my best to avoid!

 

[vickster]

I do all my own food/compostable recycling as I have a large allotment and multiple compost heaps. Just read my post again and I see it's a bit ambiguous. I meant food packaging and household packaging. I would never send food to landfill, it gets eaten or composted.

I know some supermarkets do recycle soft plastics but I've never noticed it locally. I don't know about Tesco as it's a company I do my best to avoid!

You don’t have to shop at Tesco, just leave your packaging there

 

[HobbesOnTour]

you wouldn't believe the amount of Graffiti there is around the place.

I find myself coming around to the idea the graffiti is, or at least can, be a part of a society's expression in much the same way that more "organised" art such as statues can be. Simple tagging I don't like because it says little other than "I was here" but the rest can be interesting and give a visitor a broader perspective of a place.
Of course, living with it may be different.

Personally, I don’t see much point as long as the skies look like this!

That's a valid point but I'd ask where does it lead? I can only surmise that it leads nowhere.

On the other hand, a scheme that hopefully leads to a cleaner environment, that can be enjoyed by more people, does lead to the question "What else can I or we do?".

I recall the smoking ban being introduced to Ireland to much uproar but it was done at the right time of the year, was enforced stringently, but fairly, and very quickly people (and businesses) adapted to the point that a return to the "old days" would not be appreciated. At all. Pubs, especially became very creative with their use of space. The approach in the Netherlands was very different and received nothing like the same support from either the public or business communities.

It would be great to see communities getting together to collect bottles and using the money for local projects. A great way to draw the less environmentally aware in, fire them up and create demand for similar.