Hey guys,
Yesterday, I just took a trip to one of the “RETURN and EARN” collection points where I recycled plastic and glass bottles for 10c each. It was my first time, as in Australia, it was only recently introduced in NSW. It was a great experience, learning about the different recyclable materials. I love the first hand experience and I think it’s a great incentive to keep people drinking water. This especially applies to me as I usually don’t drink enough water. From collecting 60 bottles, I managed to get $6. This isn't much but I think it’s great for encouraging everyone to help the environment and recycle. I intend to go back some time later with another big pile of bottles.
This was a great first time experience for me. Just a few days before the end of 2017, I think it’s important that we all try something new. Maybe not this year as you already may have plans for New Year’s Eve but I’d be great if all of us could put a new thing on our goals list to try for the first time. Hope you guys have a nice time for the rest of 2017!
Hi, @betrayerx. I think paying people to recycle is a genius thing! We've been having this in Norway for a very long time, and the conclusion here is that most plastic bottles and metal cans (such as beer bottles) are being returned and recycled.
I don't know how it is in Australia, but here we have to pay a "fee" every time we buy a plastic or metal bottle, and we get this fee back in cash when we return this to a recycling point.
Oh that's cool. In Australia, we purchase plastic or glass bottles or aluminium cans and are returned 10c back when returned to collection points. So there's no actual "fee" or rather we don't necessarily call it a fee. It's just included in the costs of buying the drink.
Oh, that's actually easier than how it's like here. We have prices like "25NOK + recycling fee" for these purchases, and it can be annoying to figure out exactly how much it will cost, since the recycling fee for the bottles can be either 1NOK or 2.5NOK.
Yeah, that's very interesting. I feel like in Norway, you have a constant reminder of recycling since there is a fee. Whereas in Australia, we don't. Thanks for sharing though, learnt something new.
Yeah, it works really well here at least. Most cans are returned, and some years over 95 % of all beer/metal cans are returned, so it's a huge success for the environment. I'm glad to hear you learned something new :)
I remember when I travelled to Germany they had a fee like in Norway there. I thought is was an amazing idea as it does actively remind and encourage people to recycle, I wish it was the case in the UK and everywhere. A plastic bag fee was introduced here not too long ago and it's removed so much litter from the streets, theirs a long way to go but the effects are massive, hopefully people here will see the small price and effort as worth it.
Yeah, fees really do help! I'm surprised that there have not been more countries that have the recycling fee for cans and bottles, because they (especially aluminum cans) are really important to recycle.
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