Milk Deposit

[GGG]

So the Alberta government announced that they are adding a deposit on milk jugs. 25 cents on a two leader cartoon. Near a 12.5% tax on a bottle of milk. Now I wouldn't have a problem with this if I wasn't also forced to pay $8 a month to the city of Calgary for the Mandatory recycling program.

I think only one or the other makes sense either you have a deposit on all recyclables and a high enough price to get people to spend time to recycle or you have a mandatory blue box program that people will use because there is no inconvenice.

But to do both is merely a tax on another product.

[pepper24]

So you feel the same way about pop and beer cans?

[pepper24]

Personally, what pisses me off about this is my scheme to save up 4 large garbage bags of empty milk containers seems to be for nothing as the bottle depots will only accept milk containers that have a special code and those are only available as of June 1st.

These will now go in my blue recycling bin.

[Dan02]

Originally Posted by pepper24

So you feel the same way about pop and beer cans?

to be honest, a milk carton isn't something a drunk is likely to randomly discard walking down the street. Do you see milk cartons littering our streets? I just find this rather excessive.

[HOOT]

They have bottle deposits because of littering?

[Dan02]

more the point i was trying to make is almost all these milk jugs are consumed in the home environment, where it is as easy to dispose of them in the blue bins as the garbage, financial incentive isn't necessairy, just annoying.

[CrusaderPi]

Originally Posted by Dan02

more the point i was trying to make is almost all these milk jugs are consumed in the home environment, where it is as easy to dispose of them in the blue bins as the garbage, financial incentive isn't necessairy, just annoying.

That's Calgary-centric though. Lots of places don't have mandatory blue box programs and these jugs end up in the landfills by the thousands while being easily recyclable.

[onetwo_threefour]

It's also not like they just announced this, we heard about it months ago. And it is a provincewide initiative so the blue box program has nothing to do with it as was pointed out above.

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by pepper24

Personally, what pisses me off about this is my scheme to save up 4 large garbage bags of empty milk containers seems to be for nothing as the bottle depots will only accept milk containers that have a special code and those are only available as of June 1st.

These will now go in my blue recycling bin.

You actually thought that would work? Don't you think they had thought of that? I've seen this before where some new deposit or some increase is announced and they indicate that only those items sold after a certain date get that deposit.

[darockwilder]

Originally Posted by pepper24

Personally, what pisses me off about this is my scheme to save up 4 large garbage bags of empty milk containers seems to be for nothing as the bottle depots will only accept milk containers that have a special code and those are only available as of June 1st.

These will now go in my blue recycling bin.

I was doing the same thing too until I recently realized that it wouldn't work! I figured I had a veritable gold mine of milk containers, but they're worth squat. I did wonder what it would look like when I went into the recycling place on June 1.. "Yeah, I drank all this today, honestly"

[FlamesKickAss]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

You actually thought that would work? Don't you think they had thought of that? I've seen this before where some new deposit or some increase is announced and they indicate that only those items sold after a certain date get that deposit.

when they announced they were increasing pop cans to 10 cents this year, I stockpiled and waited longer to go to bottle depot. and got the proper amount of money (10 cents each)

[GGG]

Originally Posted by pepper24

So you feel the same way about pop and beer cans?

I do but that system has been in place for a long time and is ingrained and likely difficult to dismantal. I only think it is fair to do one or the other.

Perhaps Calgary should reduce the recycling fee by the number of milk jugs they recieve (the amount of pop and beer they recieve was probably already caluclated into the cost) Say $1 per month less

[pepper24]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

You actually thought that would work? Don't you think they had thought of that? I've seen this before where some new deposit or some increase is announced and they indicate that only those items sold after a certain date get that deposit.

Ha, I honestly thought I had a frugal scheme to make some money and have been saving milk containers since November.

It worked with pop cans when they went from 5 cents to 10 cents so I assumed I could take advantage again. Never thought about the whole expiry date thing which pop cans don't have.

Not my brightest moment but humble enough to share my story.

[jammies]

Originally Posted by pepper24

Ha, I honestly thought I had a frugal scheme to make some money and have been saving milk containers since November.

It worked with pop cans when they went from 5 cents to 10 cents so I assumed I could take advantage again. Never thought about the whole expiry date thing which pop cans don't have.

Not my brightest moment but humble enough to share my story.

Have you thought about faking the little expiry date stamp? Then just take your ten thousand containers in on the first day of the new program, and when they give you the hairy eye, tell 'em:

"I was reeeaalllll thirsty."