Money and the Environment
March 11th, 2008 by AndyEveryone seems to want to live “green”, but then time and money constraints kick in and few actually change their habits. The one thing that seems to change this pattern of talk and no action is the use of financial incentives to encourage environmentally friendly behaviour. My favourite example of this is the implementation of deposit systems, which seem to work well almost everywhere. The Beer Store in Ontario reuses upwards of 96% of its bottles through a deposit system, and the year-old deposit system for liquor bottles is already achieving a 70% bring-back rate. And when I go to Michigan, hell ensues if I do so much as dent a pop can, because then the automated deposit return machines won’t recognize it.
Anyways, the City of Toronto is now thinking about starting up a deposit system for batteries, compact fluorescent light bulbs, and paint cans. Given that an average of 9% of these products are disposed of properly, I think this is a great idea. People are already complaining about the hassle returning these things will cause though. I say fuck them, do you?
March 11th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Yes. Yes I do.
March 11th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Brilliant plan.
Also of note, while the proper disposal of CFLs is often brought up as a big issue because of the mercury content, it turns out that even if you smashed every bulb you bought once it was dead, CFLs still end up being a net reducer of mercury vapour in the air because of the energy they displace from coal, which puts trace quantities of all kinds of heavy metals metals into the air when its burned. True story.
March 13th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
What are the odds that this will actually pass in the near future? And has this been done elsewhere successfully?
March 14th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
That’s an interesting note about the CFLs and Mercury.
Also, I’m with Andy. People who don’t want to dispose of their junk properly will just have to swallow the deposit. Boo hoo hoo.