Letter to the Editor

Beverage containers

Before moving to Kansas, I lived in Vermont from 1970 to 1980. Vermont is one of a dozen or so states to require a nickel or dime deposit on all beverage containers whether of plastic, aluminum or glass.

The effect when implemented in 1971 was the immediate reduction in beverage containers being callously discarded as litter. This resulted in the nearly immediate beautification of highways and roadways.

If containers were carelessly discarded, there developed a cottage industry of scavengers eagerly willing to pick up those beverage containers for a nickel or dime each.

The system pays for itself. It does not cost taxpayers, and the approval rating in states with such a system is over 90 percent.

Kansas should implement a beverage container deposit law. Indeed, it should be a federal law.

Phil Anderson
Manhattan, Kan.

http://blogs.kansascity.com/unfettered_letters/2011/05/beverage-containers.html#ixzz1MvC4qeRl