You know people in other states throw their cans away?
I lived in Las Vegas for 5 years and almost everyone recycled aluminum. Plastic got tossed. But aluminum was recycled by everyone I knew. And even the people who didn't. You bet your ass the aluminum was recycled by the landfill.
I just get the apathy here. The state is taking your money and nobody cares.
Make the deposit 8 cents and the return 10 cents. Problem solved. But the state will never do that because it's not a recycling program, it's an income generator. The second the state stops making money off it it will go away.
And it's not just the bottles. It's the whole apathetic mentality.
"So long as the outcome is beneficial, we are fine if the means to produce that outcome are unjust and unethical. We are fine with theft, so long as at the end there is a "Positive outcome"
Are we not smart enough to figure out another way to recycle other than extorting our citizens?
What if this same system was used for other items? A $500 deposit on lawn mowers, a $1,000 deposit on cars, a $300 deposit on computers?
And remember what a "deposit" really is. It's money you put down to guarantee the owner that you will return their property according to your contract.
So the State of Michigan is really saying that we don't even own the material in the first place, that they own the can. You go to the store, your purchase a can from Budweiser, but once you buy it, the State of Michigan jumps in and says "Even though you legally purchased this, it's ours now and we are going to take your money and not give it back to you until you give us back your OUR can. A can that we will then sell to a recycling center and make money off it.
We are all stupid apathetic people, we don't give a shit when we are harmed, we don't do anything to make our lives better, and we would rather let our government steal our money than say enough is enough. It's so fucking stupid.
If you want to recycle, then recycle, if you don't, then don't. But why you are using the government to steal money from me because other people may or may not recycle their cans is fucking bull-shit.