Re last weeks Fun Online Poll, on the subject of refundable bottle deposits.
The Surfers Against Sewage website that promotes this, says the following:
The system would be largely self-funded through the small proportion of unclaimed deposits.
Evidence from existing systems shows that this is not entirely true, not too far off either, but so what - what's the point of a system that has to be used less than optimally to be funded?
Norway has had refundable bottle deposits for a long time, the reverse vending machines have been in shops since the 70s, and the current legislation/system is structured in quite a nifty way. From the outset, all drink bottles and cans are subject to a tax per bottle. After all, the most efficient and sensible way to pay for refuse treatment is for it to be pre-paid. There's no compulsion to join the deposit-refund scheme, and if producers find it's not worthwile, they don't. They can however join the scheme, through a member-owned organisation that handles the return and refund bit. The tax per bottle is then reduced in stages, until it's reduced to zero if 95% of more of the bottles are returned and handled.
The economics of this can be read from the 2015 annual reports of Infinitum, the cleverly named company reponsible for the scheme (in Norwegian).
Annual operating/admin costs before deposit refunds: 438 million NOK.
Net deposit income after refunds: 206 million NOK
Sale of materials: 124 million NOK
Net costs, of which most are paid by producers, and ultimately passed onto consumers, are around 108 million NOK. This works out at around 1p per bottle/can that is run through the system, compared to the alternative tax which is slightly more than 30p.
For this you get the benefit of virtually no bottles and cans lying around or drifting off the coasts, and an easy source of pocket money for the kids. Both producers and consumers are left with the choice of partaking in the scheme / returning the containers or not, but enough people do so, and between 80-90% of bottles and cans are returned.
You can basically apply this principle to most products and materials, and the degree of intervention isn't very high exept for the tax - importers/producers work out the particulars amongst themselves as long as the end-result is satisfactory.
Debate Magazine
