Recycling is broken (1 Viewer)

[zftcg]

I find pieces like this infuriating.

“Wishful” or “aspirational recycling” happens when people mean well, but actually do more harm than good. Your household trash might be near empty, but placing the wrong item in recycling can contaminate the entire pile, and potentially an entire truckload, sending it straight to landfill. Recycling contamination also can break recycling equipment, slow down operations, create unsafe work conditions (especially when sharp or hazardous materials are involved), and can increase service costs.  

For this reason, many municipalities have pleaded with customers—"when in doubt, throw it out." I decided to look into some of the most common offenders contributing to recycling contamination, and admit that I found more than a few I was guilty of. 

So, learn from my mistakes and stop wishful recycling by avoiding these 11 common offenders:

If we need articles explaining how badly we're screwing up recycling by not following arcane, unintuitive rules, maybe the takeaway should be that the whole system is broken. My pet peeve -- and this has gotten worse as I age and get closer to needing reading glasses -- is the fact that lots of non-recyclable materials nevertheless have the  symbol on them, and the only way to tell for sure if they're recyclable is by reading the minuscule number inside the symbol and knowing its significance.

I'm the furthest thing from an environmental expert, but it seems painfully obvious to me that we need a simplified, easy-to-follow recycling regimen focused on the most straightforward, cost-effective materials (eg, aluminum), and that our main goal at the societal level should be the large-scale adaptation of biodegradable plastic. A system where we think we're recycling plastic while most of it ends up sitting in landfills for hundreds of years ... or worse, in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch ... or even worse, breaking down into microplastics and entering our food chain, doesn't really seem to be serving anyone's needs.

 

[supermike80]

Recycling is dumb.  Sounds good, feels good but is dumb the way it's set up now. 

Laziest method possible.  Just throw it all into a magical bin and everything will turn out roses

 

[Jobber]

I find pieces like this infuriating.

If we need articles explaining how badly we're screwing up recycling by not following arcane, unintuitive rules, maybe the takeaway should be that the whole system is broken. My pet peeve -- and this has gotten worse as I age and get closer to needing reading glasses -- is the fact that lots of non-recyclable materials nevertheless have the  symbol on them, and the only way to tell for sure if they're recyclable is by reading the minuscule number inside the symbol and knowing its significance.

I'm the furthest thing from an environmental expert, but it seems painfully obvious to me that we need a simplified, easy-to-follow recycling regimen focused on the most straightforward, cost-effective materials (eg, aluminum), and that our main goal at the societal level should be the large-scale adaptation of biodegradable plastic. A system where we think we're recycling plastic while most of it ends up sitting in landfills for hundreds of years ... or worse, in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch ... or even worse, breaking down into microplastics and entering our food chain, doesn't really seem to be serving anyone's needs.

Fantastic post.

 

[parasaurolophus]

Do we know for certain that blog is accurate?

If it is i will absolutely be changing some habits, but dont want to just trust a random blog. 

 

[zftcg]

Recycling is dumb.  Sounds good, feels good but is dumb the way it's set up now. 

Laziest method possible.  Just throw it all into a magical bin and everything will turn out roses

I once met some Swiss tourists who were asking me a question about recycling (I think they had batteries they needed to dispose of). I told them our rules were all very confusing, and they said, "In Switzerland, we have 10 different bins for each type of recycling."

I could see how a system like that might be an improvement over what we do here, in the sense that at least you're avoiding the tremendous amount of waste from things being sent to recycling facilities only to be redirected to landfills. But it's still a dumb system because it's way too complex. The only possible way recycling could be effective is if it's done at scale, and complicated, unintuitive rules simply don't scale well. If we're going to do it at all, we should start with the goal of scaling effectively and then work backward from there.

 

[zftcg]

Do we know for certain that blog is accurate?

If it is i will absolutely be changing some habits, but dont want to just trust a random blog. 

Like I said, not an expert, so I can't fact check all the specific claims, but I have heard similar advice from environmentalist folks whom I trust. The pizza box thing was new to me, though.

And I do think it makes sense to follow these as best you can. Recycling may be screwed up, but it's still probably better to do it than not. Particularly the part about not putting it in plastic bags, which really screw up the machines. But whatever you do, recognize that you're part of a broken system, and to the extent that one person can make a difference, your energies would probably be better spent trying to build a new paradigm for dealing with waste.

 

[The Commish]

Do we know for certain that blog is accurate?

If it is i will absolutely be changing some habits, but dont want to just trust a random blog. 

Like I said, not an expert, so I can't fact check all the specific claims, but I have heard similar advice from environmentalist folks whom I trust. The pizza box thing was new to me, though.

And I do think it makes sense to follow these as best you can. Recycling may be screwed up, but it's still probably better to do it than not. Particularly the part about not putting it in plastic bags, which really screw up the . But whatever you do, recognize that you're part of a broken system, and to the extent that one person can make a difference, your energies would probably be better spent trying to build a new paradigm for dealing with waste.

Briefly read over the article and it seems in line with my experiences.  I'm in Florida and watched my garbage man, week after week, take BOTH our garbage and recycling bins, so I called to get some answers.  It was at that point I realized how screwed up our process is.  I knew that only certain numbers were allowed in our recycling and they were clear on what those were.  And I even understand that depending on the plastic type, recycling has to be done in different ways.  I get that.  So, I watch carefully what I throw in my bin.  It's completely weird to throw SOME plastic in recycling and the rest in the trash.  After talking with the people they asked me about pizza boxes and that's when I learned how crazy it all REALLY was.  So now, instead of throwing them away, I use them as the fuel for starting my fire pit.  The soaked in grease and stuck on cheese are perfect for that sort of thing.

 

[joffer]

Do we know for certain that blog is accurate?

If it is i will absolutely be changing some habits, but dont want to just trust a random blog. 

i've definitely read similar in the past and have changed some of my habits because of it.  our local recycling company does a pretty good job of communicating stuff like this.  Receipts are a new one to me from that article.  :noted:

 

[Henry Ford]

Do we know for certain that blog is accurate?

If it is i will absolutely be changing some habits, but dont want to just trust a random blog. 

Sort of, but right now, recycling is broken way, way worse that that blog is suggesting.  A large number of recycling companies are just dumping everything in the landfill because China isn't accepting our recyclables anymore, and they were the big market.  So either they pay someone a premium to take it (instead of being paid for it) or they just landfill it.

 

[joffer]

Sort of, but right now, recycling is broken way, way worse that that blog is suggesting.  A large number of recycling companies are just dumping everything in the landfill because China isn't accepting our recyclables anymore, and they were the big market.  So either they pay someone a premium to take it (instead of being paid for it) or they just landfill it.

yep. wondering if we should subsidize this.  hell we subsidize everything else.

 

[lod001]

Glass. They don't want it anymore. Someone needs to figure out how to recycle that or quit making glass containers. 

 

[Henry Ford]

Glass. They don't want it anymore. Someone needs to figure out how to recycle that or quit making glass containers. 

Frankly, if we could just reliably and cheaply grind it back to a fine powder and distribute it as sand we could probably start handling the coastal erosion problem.

 

[Summer Wheat]

Glass. They don't want it anymore. Someone needs to figure out how to recycle that or quit making glass containers. 

Stop making glass and plastic containers.   We need to have more paper containers, but then that causes deforestation.  I know my wife is an half ### recycler and always throws away stuff when she doe not feel like separating it.

 

[lod001]

Frankly, if we could just reliably and cheaply grind it back to a fine powder and distribute it as sand we could probably start handling the coastal erosion problem.

I remember returning glass bottles for $0.05 a bottle. Sometimes you got a bottle missing a chunk of glass on the outside bottom but it was still usable. returned after use. $0.05.

 

[the moops]

My wife works in the trash/recyling sector. Recycling is a gosh darn cluster. The need to balance the ease of recyling (or a huge percentage of people would just not do it) vs trying to extract value out of recyleable material - creates such headaches.

Single sort recyling increased the percentage of people who recycle drastically. However, it decreased the percent of collected material that could be recyled by an almost similar percent. The corss contamination of materials renders many recycleable materials, unrecyleable. Glass gets mashed into plastics - rendering both materials useless.

Other issues are crushed aluminum cans can't get recognized by the robots as cans, and instead get tossed in landfill. Machines also get clogged with plastic bags on a daily basis, shutting down operations for hours.

And yes, the markets (especially China) are not paying the rate they used to, making it hard to be profitable and making it "easier" to just dump in a landfill (or in our case - burned at the incinerator).

Nobody knows the answers, but there are very very smart people working on the issue. People who are passionate about a clean planet, and are constantly looking for ever improving technology to help. 

 

[The Commish]

yep. wondering if we should subsidize this.  hell we subsidize everything else.

Seems like this is necessary.  Much like solar in this country, the government created an industry on it's dime for a period of time making it worthwhile to investigate and create.  Same could be done with recycling.  I see "cool stuff" all the time from other countries where they figure out how to use their trash.  Everything from furniture to roads to blocks they then use to build houses.

 

[bostonfred]

This was a massive undertaking that really didn't start until a couple decades ago and is nowhere near done. Think about how much needed to be done to solve the waste problem.  

Step one get people to recycle (even though a lot of it will be unrecyclable)

Step two increase the amount of stuff that is recyclable 

Step three educate people who already recycle on what can and can't be recycled

It isn't a perfect system but we're talking about systemic change across hundreds of millions of people.  Some eggs were going to get cracked making this omelette. 

The number of people voluntarily recycling has gone up more than i ever expected it to, and this younger generation thinks this is how it's always been so they do it automatically and are much more open to learning what they can and can't recycle than our generation.  

I think it's a massive success that we're as far along as we are now.  

 

[joffer]

only things i can think of now that i purchase in a glass container are liquor and spaghetti sauce.

 

[parasaurolophus]

I have now read like 12 articles on this and can say that this blog is pretty accurate. 

Just went through our bin and pulled out a bunch of stuff. 

I did find it funny how many articles mention diapers and styrofoam.

Who the hell was throwing these things in their recycle bin? If styrofoam was recyclable we would still have the cool side cool and the hot side hot!!! If I threw a bunch of diapers in my recycle bin our crazy garbage guy would probably take a dump on my porch. 

Thanks for posting this @zftcg

 

[joffer]

there's a spot in south Austin that takes batteries and Styrofoam.  I try to go down there every few months with a box or two full.  some grocery stores are taking plastic bags now.  i have no idea what they're doing with them.

 

[the moops]

What is everyone's problem with glass? I try and buy everything in glass as oppsed to plastic if possible.

 

[joffer]

What is everyone's problem with glass? I try and buy everything in glass as oppsed to plastic if possible.

"Glass...who gives a #### about glass?....Who the #### is this?"

- John McClain

 

[zftcg]

What is everyone's problem with glass? I try and buy everything in glass as oppsed to plastic if possible.

My understanding is that the only reason we even bother recycling glass is because of regulations requiring it. Economically, it is incredibly costly and inefficient. Also, dark glass (think wine bottles) is non-recyclable and has to be land filled. 

 

[the moops]

My understanding is that the only reason we even bother recycling glass is because of regulations requiring it. Economically, it is incredibly costly and inefficient. Also, dark glass (think wine bottles) is non-recyclable and has to be land filled. 

Pretty sure wine bottles and other dark bottles can indeed be recycled. They just can only be recylced into similar dark objects

 

[supermike80]

This was a massive undertaking that really didn't start until a couple decades ago and is nowhere near done. Think about how much needed to be done to solve the waste problem.  

Step one get people to recycle (even though a lot of it will be unrecyclable)

Step two increase the amount of stuff that is recyclable 

Step three educate people who already recycle on what can and can't be recycled

It isn't a perfect system but we're talking about systemic change across hundreds of millions of people.  Some eggs were going to get cracked making this omelette. 

The number of people voluntarily recycling has gone up more than i ever expected it to, and this younger generation thinks this is how it's always been so they do it automatically and are much more open to learning what they can and can't recycle than our generation.  

I think it's a massive success that we're as far along as we are now.  

You lost it with step three my friend.  

 

[Joe Summer]

X is broken, therefore X was always a bad idea.

 

[Stealthycat]

Economically, it is incredibly costly and inefficient. Also, dark glass (think wine bottles) is non-recyclable and has to be land filled. 

incredibly isn't accurate - everything used to be bottled and nothing was incredibly pricey right ?

we as a country need to ban single use plastics right now, and plastic companies need conversions over/back to glass manufacturing and a network of glass recycling set in place

there is no reason not to

 

[The General]

incredibly isn't accurate - everything used to be bottled and nothing was incredibly pricey right ?

we as a country need to ban single use plastics right now, and plastic companies need conversions over/back to glass manufacturing and a network of glass recycling set in place

there is no reason not to

That you, Joe?

 

[Stealthycat]

That you, Joe?

no, that's Oregon

https://www.oregon.gov/deq/mm/production/Pages/Bags.aspx

 

[Nick Vermeil]

My understanding is that the only reason we even bother recycling glass is because of regulations requiring it. Economically, it is incredibly costly and inefficient. Also, dark glass (think wine bottles) is non-recyclable and has to be land filled. 

Wait wat?  Gotta dug down on this one. We recycle a lot of wine bottles. I blame my drunk wife.  

 

[JohnnyU]

I miss glass pop bottles.  At one time you could get a nickle for each one of them.  Plus, the pop tasted better, especially after putting it in the freezer for about 15 minutes.  I remember going to restaurants and being served a pop with ice on the outside of that glass bottle.   Those were the days!!

 

[zftcg]

Wait wat?  Gotta dug down on this one. We recycle a lot of wine bottles. I blame my drunk wife.  

I was just passing along something I had read once. I could very easily be wrong. So don't follow my advice without first consulting a medical professional.

 

[the moops]

I was just passing along something I had read once. I could very easily be wrong. So don't follow my advice without first consulting a doctor.

I think you may be confusing the dark plastics. Black plastic is typically not recycleable because it cannot be detected by the machines at the sorting facility

 

[zftcg]

I think you may be confusing the dark plastics. Black plastic is typically not recycleable because it cannot be detected by the machines at the sorting facility

No, you had it right the first time. They can be recycled, but only with similarly colored glass. And by the way, not all "colored" glass can be recycled together; it must be separated into brown and green glass.

So on the one hand, I'm sorry for passing along incorrect information. On the other, the fact that it is so complex and easily confused kind of proves the point I was making in my original post.

 

[zftcg]

This was a massive undertaking that really didn't start until a couple decades ago and is nowhere near done. Think about how much needed to be done to solve the waste problem.  

Step one get people to recycle (even though a lot of it will be unrecyclable)

Step two increase the amount of stuff that is recyclable 

Step three educate people who already recycle on what can and can't be recycled

It isn't a perfect system but we're talking about systemic change across hundreds of millions of people.  Some eggs were going to get cracked making this omelette. 

The number of people voluntarily recycling has gone up more than i ever expected it to, and this younger generation thinks this is how it's always been so they do it automatically and are much more open to learning what they can and can't recycle than our generation.  

I think it's a massive success that we're as far along as we are now.  

You know, I constantly feel guilty for spending as much time as I do in the PSF, especially once the football season is over. But responses like this are what keep me here.

I started a thread around a topic I knew a little about, but was by no means an expert. It's launched a really good discussion, and while most of us were in broad agreement, you came in and (politely) challenged my assumptions and forced me to consider the issue from a different perspective.

(It also helps that this is an issue that, while political, is not "partisan", so none of us feel the need to defend a particular side.)

Thanks so much for this contribution.

 

[zftcg]

The more I think about this, the more I think the problem may be that we've overemphasized recycling as a good in its own right rather than as a means to an end. The ultimate goal should be to reduce waste; to the extent that recycling can do that, we should push ahead, but we should keep our eyes on the prize. But IMO the single biggest problem we're facing right now is the issue of plastics. We are producing ever-increasing amounts of it, it's not biodegradable, we have nowhere to put it, microplastics are polluting our water and food chain, and we still don't really understand all the effects it may be having on us (I've seen reports linking plastics to such problems as obesity and early-onset puberty.)

To the extent that we can efficiently recycle plastic, that's great. And maybe, as @bostonfred argues, we are in a early stage of inefficient recycling that we have to push through in order to reach a fully recyclable future. But as of right now we are landfilling ever increasing amounts of plastic, and it's taking over our planet. We need to figure out a way to get rid of the stuff we have, and we need to stop making more of it, or at least of the kind that's going to stick around forever. I would really like to see our technological focus on solving those two problems.

 

[Mookie]

Recycling is a mess right now, largely because the market for recycled materials is mostly gone because China isn't accepting it.  China's acceptance of our recycling gave us an easy market and allowed us to slack on developing more local solutions for processing that waste - it also gave us this false sense that we weren't really over-using, because someone else was making use of our discarded stuff.  We are now way behind and plastics especially are a huge problem.  Hopefully, that can change as we develop our own solutions and markets, but even so, recycling is a TINY part of the solution. 

We consume WAY too much single use plastic.  Recycling 3 cases of water bottles every week doesn't make you a hero - you are the problem.  We all need to consume less, make buying decisions based upon packaging, reuse, and re-purpose before even considering recycling.  Reducing my plastic consumption was my New Year's Resolution, and here are some of the things I've made an effort to do:

Bring my own bags to the grocery store, and decline a bag when offered.

No more single use yogurt in the morning.

Water/Soda/Coffee in a re-usable cup or mug (My niece gave me a Yeti for XMas, and it's awesome).  No straws.

Avoid plastic utensils - if I must use them, I take them home to wash and re-use (stash them in the car or backpacks).

Avoid filling those little containers with ketchup or salsa - just put it on the side or on top of the food.

No beer six packs with the plastic top.  Fill up more growlers.

Consider packaging when I make buying decisions - my Costco membership is in serious jeopardy over this one (6 apples need to be enclosed in a plastic shell?), but I also like buying in bulk.  

I haven't been perfect, but when you do the math on how much plastic one person/family consumes in a day/week/month/year, it grows into a big scary number really fast.  Likewise, when you take small steps to decrease your consumption, you can really get a sense that you are doing good, without even considering recycling.  

 

[supermike80]

Decent article on this topic.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/03/recycling-waste-of-money-time/

 

[knowledge dropper]

Pretty sure wine bottles and other dark bottles can indeed be recycled. They just can only be recylced into similar dark objects

This is true.  As a kid I worked in a recycling center.  Had to separate clear and dark bottles before processing.  

 

[joffer]

Decent article on this topic.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/03/recycling-waste-of-money-time/

A transfer station in New Hampshire reports that sending rubbish to a landfill costs $68 a ton. Recycling it? That costs $125 a ton. Wasn’t recycling supposed to save us money, not cost twice as much?

my answer would be "no".  i never thought a PRO of recycling vs landfilling was to save money, unless you're looking at really long term effects.  i suppose its possible someone somewhere was making that claim, but i don't know how.

 

[Punxsutawney Phil]

They shouldld just have one bin for metal and glass.  Plastic & paper are worthless to recycle now that China quit buying.

 

[zftcg]

Recycling is a mess right now, largely because the market for recycled materials is mostly gone because China isn't accepting it.  China's acceptance of our recycling gave us an easy market and allowed us to slack on developing more local solutions for processing that waste - it also gave us this false sense that we weren't really over-using, because someone else was making use of our discarded stuff.  We are now way behind and plastics especially are a huge problem.  Hopefully, that can change as we develop our own solutions and markets, but even so, recycling is a TINY part of the solution. 

We consume WAY too much single use plastic.  Recycling 3 cases of water bottles every week doesn't make you a hero - you are the problem.  We all need to consume less, make buying decisions based upon packaging, reuse, and re-purpose before even considering recycling.  Reducing my plastic consumption was my New Year's Resolution, and here are some of the things I've made an effort to do:

Bring my own bags to the grocery store, and decline a bag when offered.

No more single use yogurt in the morning.

Water/Soda/Coffee in a re-usable cup or mug (My niece gave me a Yeti for XMas, and it's awesome).  No straws.

Avoid plastic utensils - if I must use them, I take them home to wash and re-use (stash them in the car or backpacks).

Avoid filling those little containers with ketchup or salsa - just put it on the side or on top of the food.

No beer six packs with the plastic top.  Fill up more growlers.

Consider packaging when I make buying decisions - my Costco membership is in serious jeopardy over this one (6 apples need to be enclosed in a plastic shell?), but I also like buying in bulk.  

I haven't been perfect, but when you do the math on how much plastic one person/family consumes in a day/week/month/year, it grows into a big scary number really fast.  Likewise, when you take small steps to decrease your consumption, you can really get a sense that you are doing good, without even considering recycling.  

That's very admirable, and I'm certainly not going to criticize anyone who makes all that effort, especially given my own terrible habits, like preferring to drink from plastic bottles and constantly leaving my reusable grocery bags in the car when I go to the store.

But -- and I fully recognize this may just be rationalization on my part -- it's not hard to feel like personal responsibility can't come close to scaling to the extent we need it to, and that the only possible solution to our waste crisis is systemic change that doesn't depend on personal virtue to succeed. Things like biodegradable plastic and ecologically sound methods of getting rid of the plastic we currently have.

 

[supermike80]

my answer would be "no".  i never thought a PRO of recycling vs landfilling was to save money, unless you're looking at really long term effects.  i suppose its possible someone somewhere was making that claim, but i don't know how.

Yeah I dont think saving money was the big sell.  But if its going into a landfill regardless, I would appreciate paying less for that to happen

 

[bostonfred]

That's very admirable, and I'm certainly not going to criticize anyone who makes all that effort, especially given my own terrible habits, like preferring to drink from plastic bottles and constantly leaving my reusable grocery bags in the car when I go to the store.

But -- and I fully recognize this may just be rationalization on my part -- it's not hard to feel like personal responsibility can't come close to scaling to the extent we need it to, and that the only possible solution to our waste crisis is systemic change that doesn't depend on personal virtue to succeed. Things like biodegradable plastic and ecologically sound methods of getting rid of the plastic we currently have.

Absolutely true and the public is slowly catching up to the point that we can get there. 

For example in my town we get two barrels.  One recycle one trash. If you can't fit all your trash in one barrel you can pay a bunch of money to get a second trash barrel or stickers you can put on a regular trash bag but they cost money too and it's a pain to go get them.  

Most people just recycle because it's easier. If you're not throwing our half a barrel of plastic bottles ot cardboard boxes one trash barrel is more than enough for most families.  

That's an economic incentive. It costs time to recycle.  It costs time and money to not recycle.  That's how systemic change happens  - reward the right behavior.  

 

[Snorkelson]

I miss glass pop bottles.  At one time you could get a nickle for each one of them.  Plus, the pop tasted better, especially after putting it in the freezer for about 15 minutes.  I remember going to restaurants and being served a pop with ice on the outside of that glass bottle.   Those were the days!!

While the cool glass is a fond memory, the other reason they tasted so good is because they used real sugar vs corn syrup. 

Let’s count our blessings that the aluminum bottle hasn’t been a game changer.  

 

[msommer]

Glass. They don't want it anymore. Someone needs to figure out how to recycle that or quit making glass containers. 

Put a deposit on aluminum cans, glass and PET plastic bottles and label them accordingly. The deposit is automatically added to the price when the item is scanned.
Return the deposit to the consumer that returns the bottle (this can be automated).
Works in various countries in Europe (should be expanded to wine bottles, jars etc but the point stands).

 

[msommer]

Pretty sure wine bottles and other dark bottles can indeed be recycled. They just can only be recylced into similar dark objects

Indeed

 

[msommer]

Absolutely true and the public is slowly catching up to the point that we can get there. 

For example in my town we get two barrels.  One recycle one trash. If you can't fit all your trash in one barrel you can pay a bunch of money to get a second trash barrel or stickers you can put on a regular trash bag but they cost money too and it's a pain to go get them.  

Most people just recycle because it's easier. If you're not throwing our half a barrel of plastic bottles ot cardboard boxes one trash barrel is more than enough for most families.  

That's an economic incentive. It costs time to recycle.  It costs time and money to not recycle.  That's how systemic change happens  - reward the right behavior.  

Many places in DK there are four to six containers per household. Paper, cardboard, metal, glass, plastic (some have hard and soft), organic/yard waste and the rest. Some containers are divided in two (requires special trucks with two compartments to handle. Picking up the trash is usually done on staggered schedules with some (e.g. the rest more frequent than metal or glass or yard waste). A pain if you areliving in an apartment with limited space but doable if you have a house.

 

[the moops]

We consume WAY too much single use plastic.  Recycling 3 cases of water bottles every week doesn't make you a hero - you are the problem.  

Your whole post was excellent and pretty much aligns with how my family decides to make purchases. Just wanted to highlight this post.

There is not much in the world that truly bothers me in my day to day life more than the insanity of people and their ####### plastic bottles of water that they just paid 2 bucks for. Or even buying in bulk, it is still dumb to pay whatever discounted price you got. There are water fountains and/or sinks everywhere. It has never been easier to fill up a reusable water jug.

At my work we have a fancy water cooler. Doesn't matter to the dolt who insists on bringing and drinking three plastic water bottles everyday. Ugh

 

[Da Guru]

Put a deposit on aluminum cans, glass and PET plastic bottles and label them accordingly. The deposit is automatically added to the price when the item is scanned.
Return the deposit to the consumer that returns the bottle (this can be automated).
Works in various countries in Europe (should be expanded to wine bottles, jars etc but the point stands).

Michigan has had deposits on all beverage glass, cans, and some plastic beverage bottles but not water.