I like the bottle bill

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I remember as a kid when we walked home from school, the movies, or any other location in the center of town, we kids would keep our eyes open for any tonic bottles (Yes, tonic. It was Massachusetts, after all) that might have been dropped by a pedestrian or thrown out of a car window so we could get the two cents from returning it, and, depending which direction we were going, getting four mint julep candies at the Little White Store heading one way, or Jack and Paul’s heading the other. Mint Juleps were two for a cent at the time, and penny candy was a reality back then.

We never were unable to get candy, and there were usually enough bottles for everyone walking to get the treat.

Eventually things changed as cans began to replace bottles because of the convenience of the dangerous pull tabs that could cut bare feet, especially at the beach at Bolivar pond, or give a good paper cut if you happened to put your hand down on one. But the dangerous cans  eventually gave way to pull tabs that stayed attached to the can.

Where the tonic remained in bottles, they became plastic ones that were not redeemable.

Because there was no longer a reason to pick up discarded tonic bottles, they remained where they landed along the roadside, and litter began to grow. Without the prize of the two cents, the bottles were just not worth picking up.

Now we have redeemable deposits on tonic bottles again, and even though I am too lazy to bring them to the grocery store and having them turned into money, I do drop them into the bin at the Transfer Station (nee dump) where they are redeemed and the money given by the town to the less fortunate.

In a bit of irony, as people began to seek healthier diets and chose to drink less sugary drinks, the amount of litter began to increase again in spite of the redeemable bottle deposit because people began to drink bottled water, and those bottles were not redeemable.

Ideally, the same people who are concerned about their health and the environment should use re-usable bottles to put their water in, but idealism lost out to the convenience of buying the water, and then just throwing the bottle away.

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This November, the citizens of Massachusetts will be voting on ballot question 2.

The ballot summary reads:
“ This proposed law would expand the state’s beverage container deposit law, also known as the Bottle Bill, to require deposits on containers for all non-alcoholic non-carbonated drinks in liquid form intended for human consumption, except beverages primarily derived from dairy products, infant formula, and FDA approved medicines. The proposed law would not cover containers made of paper-based biodegradable material and aseptic multi-material packages such as juice boxes or pouches.

The major objections I have heard from conservative radio and the anti-Question 2 ads in the media is that the money from unredeemed beverage bottles will be going to politicians, although I think they are presenting a bogey man argument as the money goes to the state coffers.

They also conveniently forget that those empty bottles found on the side of the road will be picked up by people, the kids, the homeless, or the environmentally concerned, for their redemption value, and in forgetting this, the opposition is either too young to remember the way it was, or are duplicitous in purposely ignoring their own history if they are old enough to have redeemed other people’s bottles for snack money.

Finding a way to get all those crumpled empty water bottles out of the environment sounds good to me.

Perhaps, to keep from having to pay the deposit, water drinkers will buy reusable containers.

Fewer bottles; less litter.

It’s got my support.

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