Posted: 6/22/2010 3:42:11 PM EDT
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This might be a weird question but I don't know the answer so I thought I'd ask here. My oldest son last year when we where up in MI saw that if you recycled a can you got $0.10 for it. He was in heaven picking up every can he saw when we where up there. When we got back home he wanted us to save all are cans so we could turn them in this year when we go up there.
Now here is the problem I was told by a family member they think they will only take cans that are from MI. Now I'd like to know if this is true because I have a place down by me that will take the cans and I would hate to drag 4 large bags of cans for 10 hours to find I can't use them there. Thanks for the help. |
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Well, they have the same barcode on them right ?
If I remember right, last year the gov said they lost a ton of money from people doing this. basically, people pay the $0.05 deposit in their home state, then drive across state lines and get $0.10 back The number was around 100,000 a day, which seems unrealistic to me. They were trying to get the bottlers to get a different barcode for MI , but think they went away. So, yes technically is possible as long as the bottle, can etc has a barcode that shows MI $.10, IL 0.5 etc. |
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Its a pretty hefty fine for doing that. And please don't, because when you do that you are stealing from Michigan taxpayers, like me! The way the system really works is that you PAY 10 cents for every can/bottle you buy. So the 10 cents you get back is your deposit to create an incentive to recycle vs. throwing away the cans. |
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every state should have this. i don't mind having to pay 10 cents per can/bottle. Seems like such a waste to throw away good aluminum ya know. I am no flaming libtard, but I am huge on recycling. Just because it makes sense to me to not waste shit lol.
Yes, please don't rip off taxpayers here, we are all broke already  Get a petition in your state to do something similiar. There are kids here that go to events and make a ton of cash picking up beer cans, etc.
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Quoted:
...last year the gov said they lost a ton of money from people doing this... Is that kind of like when businesses claim to be loosing money, but in actuality they only didn't make as much profit as they had anticipated? So the difference between the expected profit and the actual profit is what they call their "loss"? Or in other words, they are still making money - just not as much as they anticipated. (no - I'm not claiming that Michigan is flush with unaccounted can money. I'm just comparing to a similar accounting method). From the time I've spent in Michigan, I've got to say I've seen at least as many cans / bottles thrown away as I've seen collected. So my question is, how much money does the state generate from non-returned containers? Because if the system worked and 100% of containers were returned, the state would be loosing money on it (it does take some money to handle all of that aluminum & glass). Or to put it another way, how is the state "loosing money"? Someone has claim to every dime of that can money. The state is counting on people just throwing the containers away and pockets the un-claimed deposits. Obviously, some deposit money is going to containers that were not charged the deposit. But what percentage of non-deposit-paid cans are returned, vs. the percentage of deposit-paid cans that are never returned? And the state pockets the difference. They are just upset that someone is cutting in on their action. (disclaimer: no I am not defending people who return un-taxed containers. Just making an observation as an outsider.) Quoted:
Its a pretty hefty fine for doing that. And please don't, because when you do that you are stealing from Michigan taxpayers, like me! I disagree. The only one stealing is the state. There is no tax involved here. You get 100% of your deposit back when you return your containers. The state is happy to "steal" the unclaimed deposit money. But then, that was likely the whole reason for the deposit scheme anyway. Any recycling effort that comes of it is just an added benefit. (again - just commenting as an outside observer here). |
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Everything you need to know about MI's bottle bill can be found here.
And yes, bringing in out of state cans is stealing from our state. While it takes no money directly from our (the taxpayers) pockets, it takes money from our pollution prevention cleanup funds. From the document: "The Michigan Bottle Deposit Law escheat (unclaimed deposits that revert to the state) is collected by Treasury. Seventy-five percent of the money is deposited into the Cleanup and Redevelopment Trust Fund (Trust Fund), created in 1996 PA 384, and 25 percent is returned to the retailers. Of the 75 percent deposited in the Trust Fund, 80 percent is deposited into the Cleanup and Redevelopment Fund, 10 percent is deposited into the Community Pollution Prevention Fund, and 10 percent remains in the Trust Fund. The Trust Fund continues to collect the 10 percent per year until a maximum of $200 million is met. The Community Pollution Prevention Fund is used for programs to educate the general public and businesses that use or handle hazardous materials on pollution prevention methods, technologies, and processes, with an emphasis on the direct reduction of toxic material releases or disposal, at the source. The Cleanup and Redevelopment Fund is used to clean up specific sites of contamination in Michigan." "Bringing beverage containers from out of state on which no deposit was paid in Michigan for the purpose of collecting a deposit on the containers is illegal. Each fraudulently returned container reduces the amount of escheat money going into the Community Pollution Prevention Fund, the Cleanup and Redevelopment Fund, and the Trust Fund." And also, the average of deposits claimed since 1990 is over 97%.... That sounds fairly effective to me. I wish that they would also include juice and water bottles in the bottle bill. I'd like to see a lot less of those around... |
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All I know is that the bottle bill in Mich helps keeps these empties off the streets. I've been to many other states where the highways and streets were littered with empties.
Without the bottle returns, crackheads and bums would either have to work or rob people for a living. |
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Quoted:
All I know is that the bottle bill in Mich helps keeps these empties off the streets. I've been to many other states where the highways and streets were littered with empties. Without the bottle returns, crackheads and bums would either have to work or rob people for a living. The only empties it helps keep off the streets are those WITH A DEPOSIT. It has no effect on gatorade, water, juice or other non-returnable bottles that I see all over the sides of the roads. I see a fair amount of returnable empties on the side of the roads as most people these days could care less about the flipping 10 cent deposit. There are some that don't have the time to be bothered with it and they find it easier to just toss them. I see a lot of folks in my area that put returnable empties in their recycling bins. The recycling truck driver goes nuts like he found a treasure when he sees them. He collects them in his own bag and returns them on his lunch hour or after work. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
...last year the gov said they lost a ton of money from people doing this... Is that kind of like when businesses claim to be loosing money, but in actuality they only didn't make as much profit as they had anticipated? So the difference between the expected profit and the actual profit is what they call their "loss"? Or in other words, they are still making money - just not as much as they anticipated. (no - I'm not claiming that Michigan is flush with unaccounted can money. I'm just comparing to a similar accounting method). From the time I've spent in Michigan, I've got to say I've seen at least as many cans / bottles thrown away as I've seen collected. So my question is, how much money does the state generate from non-returned containers? Because if the system worked and 100% of containers were returned, the state would be loosing money on it (it does take some money to handle all of that aluminum & glass). Or to put it another way, how is the state "loosing money"? Someone has claim to every dime of that can money. The state is counting on people just throwing the containers away and pockets the un-claimed deposits. Obviously, some deposit money is going to containers that were not charged the deposit. But what percentage of non-deposit-paid cans are returned, vs. the percentage of deposit-paid cans that are never returned? And the state pockets the difference. They are just upset that someone is cutting in on their action. (disclaimer: no I am not defending people who return un-taxed containers. Just making an observation as an outsider.) Quoted:
Its a pretty hefty fine for doing that. And please don't, because when you do that you are stealing from Michigan taxpayers, like me! I disagree. The only one stealing is the state. There is no tax involved here. You get 100% of your deposit back when you return your containers. The state is happy to "steal" the unclaimed deposit money. But then, that was likely the whole reason for the deposit scheme anyway. Any recycling effort that comes of it is just an added benefit. (again - just commenting as an outside observer here). Right. The dollar amount they "lost' was supposedly by paying out money on cans brought in from out of state. The number seemed way to high to me. And yes, a bunch of people don't return cans or bottles to get their deposit back so it is probably a wash anyways. There was talk of getting a new barcode just for Michigan. If the true goal is to recycle and not as a revenue creator, then the easiest thing would have been to reduce the deposit to 5 cents to match the surrounding states, and thereby eliminating any profit potential from people abusing the system. At the same time, if they truly cared about recycling, why are non-carbonated beverages excluded from the deposit ? |
 HA! I remember when I was in the military and a stupid cherry. My first barracks inspection, my platoon sergeant comes in to do a pre-inspection before the 1SG came around. He looked under my rack and saw it packed full of beer bottles neatly organized. He looked at me and asked me just what the f&*(k I thought I was gonna do with all of them. I looked at him with all seriousness and said that I was saving all my bottles from my enlistment and the gov. would ship it all back home when I got out. Then I could take em to the store and make a small fortune. He looked at me and told me I had about 2 minutes to get 100% of them out of my room and out to the dumpster before he did me great bodily harm.   What did I know, I was a young dumb cherry. Anyways, if I had saved every beer bottle and can from my enlistments, you would have needed something bigger than a C-141 to get them all home.
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Alright, one thing I will say is that Michigan actually makes it easy to return your cans, though. I worked in Iowa for a time and I really was trying to go along with their program. It seemed like they were going out of their way to make it inconvenient to return your containers and get your deposit back. They had some goofy rules like the cans had to be clean, returned in their original container (like the cardboard box a case comes in), and absolutely no more than 24 cans could be returned per day.
So it's not surprising that people didn't want to bother with it. Fortunately for me, I was working on the Iowa / Nebraska boarder, so I bought my beverages in Nebraska and didn't have to worry about getting any deposit back. |