XPost: alt.home.repair   
   From: bugsy@zimage.comBUGSY   
      
   The Real Bev  wrote:   
      
   > Kalifornia's bottle recycling program is screwed.  The state collects   
   > the money...   
      
   I don't think that's correct.   
   I think the store keeps the entire CRV.   
   I think the only part the state gets is the sales tax on the CRV.   
      
   So, for example, let's say (for arguments sake) the store sells ten cases   
   of soda a day every day for a year - which is 24 sodas per case times ten   
   cases a day times 365 days in a year which is about $9 thousand dollars in   
   CRV if I rough it out in my head using approximations.   
      
   At roughly a 10% California sales tax approximation, that's about $900 in   
   sales tax on the CRV alone which California _does_ get to collect (and   
   which the poor hapless consumer _never_ gets back when they return the   
   bottle for their CRV).   
      
   California likely makes billions alone on just the tax on the CRV.   
      
   > but since there are so few recyclers now (in spite of legal   
   > requirements, it's cheaper for supermarkets to pay the fine than to   
   > establish recycling systems) most people just toss theirs into the   
   > recycling bin.   
      
   In the richer towns, all the supermarkets pay the fine for not having a   
   recycling center inside the store or within a mile radius, which tells you   
   that it's cheaper for them to pay the fine and keep the CRV than it is to   
   recycle the bottles.   
      
   > Apparently containers with deposits, cardboard, concrete and asphalt are   
   > the only things worth recycling.  I see a guy with a tiny Toyota pickup   
   > loaded higher than the cab with flattened cardboard from behind the   
   > shops across the street.  A couple of years ago he said he made $25/load   
   > and it's a 10-mile round trip to the recycler.   
      
   In California, there are three types of weekly pickup, the blue recycling,   
   the green landscaping, and the gray trash, where they make money on the   
   blue and green but they lose money on the gray.   
      
   What you could do is recycle almost everything yourself by composting the   
   gray stuff but they don't charge you any less if you don't have gray   
   pickups.   
      
   And, in fact, they give you up to five free blue and five free green cans   
   which are four feet or so high and three feet square in width, simply   
   because they make money on every blue and green can they pick up.   
      
   They make the gray cans very small as you pay by the size of them.   
      
   > Some people are just bloody-minded and save up enough bottles/cans to   
   > make a 10-mile round trip worth doing.  It may be noted that I once   
   > brought back over $135.00 worth of aluminum cans (pickup truck).   
   >   
   > That being said, I'm glad hubby stopped drinking the stuff.  Rots your   
   > teeth and is a general nuisance no matter how you look at it.   
      
   In California, you can only give them fifty cans/bottles at a time if you   
   ask them to COUNT them (and pay you the CRV by number), but if you give   
   them more than fifty bottles, then they have the option to just weigh them   
   and give you an "average price", which is some kind of funky calculation.   
   --   
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