Walk along the Nith estuary this morning and found this poking through the sand. There are tons more littering the floodline 🙄

IMG_1941 by john_henry_mtb, on Flickr

IMG_1939 by john_henry_mtb, on Flickr

Or stop people throwing litter.

No not time to get rid of plastic bottles, time to make them reusable, and paying for the bottle so that people return them instead of throwing the bottles away.
And ofcourse the same for glass bottles.

Why the UK have not adopted this is beyond me.

time to make them reusable

We tried to use recycled bottles in the process where I work, making polyester chip/film. The down sides are handling and contamination if “raw” materials are not cleaned properly. Our products are used in the electronic, food, packaging and PV cells and need to be contamination free.
They could be used for garden furniture making.http://www.solwayrecycling.co.uk/

Drac. Nice example of a centuries old problem 😆

I just think that the press campaign to rid our environment of the poly bag has been reasonably successful but that the plastic bottle has taken it`s place

paying for the bottle so that people return them

When I was a kid we used to walk the same shoreline and collect glass lemonade bottles, take them home, wash them and take them to a shop for a few pennies.

When I was a kid we used to walk the same shoreline and collect glass lemonade bottles, take them home, wash them and take them to a shop for a few pennies.

Seems like a lot of effort. We went around the back the club and collected them, we then went around the front to take them back for 10p each.

I’m sure I remember from being in Germany in September, that you get 20c for each plastic bottle returned. Hardly anyone throws them away.

Yep, plastic bottles are reused not recycled in many countries, hence the bottle deposit money.

Quite a few tesco stores have automated machines you scan the empty botle pop it in the slot and earn clubcard points.

And whats the stupid idea of shoving bottle down rabbit holes in the countryside rabits don trecycle and you brought it there full so take it home empty.

Seems like a lot of effort. We went around the back the club and collected them, we then went around the front to take them back for 10p each.

Reminds me of school ‘I’m covering because your teacher is absent and I can’t be arsed to sit with you for 40 mins litter pick today lads, environment and that’ litter picks. 35 mins smoking at the shops then swap our empty black bag for a full one from one of the litter bins.

There was a guy in one of our recent road races who threw his empty bottle to the side of the road whilst racing. He was so PRO it hurt. Plus a twunt… Utterly pointless and frankly despicable behaviour.

It could be worse. The military could be firing depleted uranium shells into the sea illegally…

http://newsnetscotland.com/index.php/scottish-opinion/7093-solways-deadly-mod-legacy-of-depleted-uranium-may-be-illegal

We tried to use recycled bottles in the process where I work

Naw, reusing them is where it’s at. Standardize sizes and put a deposit on them. Not difficult.

In Australia you used to get tramps wandering the streets with big sacks filling them with used tin cans. They would go through the bins and do a sweep of the pub sometimes waiting till you had finished your beer.
Seems like a good thing.

What would be the import duty and applicable VAT rate on an antipodean vagrant?

It was SOP when I was a kid to collect empty drink bottles and take them back for the refund. I really can’t understand why this isn’t still normal practice.

I’m sure I remember from being in Germany in September, that you get 20c for each plastic bottle returned

15c for most reusable plastic bottles
25c for some thinner non-reusable ones that have a fancy logo next to the bar code (image recognition?)
15c for glass bottles too

Well on average, I wasn’t far off. 🙂

Guess that’s true 😉

No fizzy drinks in tin cans here either, or at least very few. Coke etc. only available in 500ml or 1litre etc. bottles. Redbull might be in cans? Can’t say I’ve ever actually noticed that on sale tbh.

Parties when we lived in Holland were cool. Friends bring the beer etc. and we cashed in the crates. Every so often there was a free party funded entirely on crate and bottle returns.

There are no refillable plastic drinks bottles currently avaiable in the UK. They need to be a different design and thicker/heavier to withstand washing and even then, don’t last forever. Because we expect things to be as cheap as possible here, refillables never caught on as in Holland and Germany. I believe they aren’t as popular there now, either. Surely the way to go is biodegradeable. The material is available, but at extra cost. There may be some bottle design issues, too.

There’s still a deposit on the non-refillable ones.

There was a guy in one of our recent road races who threw his empty bottle to the side of the road whilst racing.

A fella did this I was walking down the road a couple of years ago, and he wasn’t racing. Still, I got a free water bottle 🙂

Deposit on the bottles like Denmark, Germany etc is the way forward and should have been implemented years ago in the UK.

Sadly the fizzy drinks in Cans is protected by EU law, as Denmark had a ban on them for ages, until they lost a year long court case with the EU over it and had to allow the selling of them.

Deposit on the bottles … should have been implemented years ago in the UK.

It was. They got rid of it.

Always used to get 10p back on my Corona bottles back in the 70’s and 80’s