Last night, I ended up viewing this public TV episode of Panorama (ARD's public documentary news segment, Channel One). Of their three stories for the night....the one with interest for me....was the telling of the beverage deposit 'war' and deposit program.
For those who haven't been in Germany over the past twenty years....a huge amount of effort has been expended by the grocery/beverage industry, with regulations handed to them by the government over drink cans/bottles. There is a huge cost impact to the regulations and naturally....it's the consumer who has paid for the actions in the end.
No one said much over the soda folks, the beer folks, or the water folks. They got into line and played the game.
Over the past couple of years, the environmental folks got all hyper about the milk container folks, the juice folks, and food folks. New regulations got written.
The milk folks? They really don't want to get into this re-use or deposit game. The chief concern? Well...chiefly, hygiene. At least they say this.
About a third of this entire story laid out....is about the 'evil' lobbyists who are advocating waivers. The emphasis of the reporters? Pro-recycle, of course.
Around two years ago, I was at some grocery store and a German lady had three big bags in the cart....drink container returns....mostly all smaller water bottles. She stood there for at least ten minutes....shoving bottles into the machine. Some were easily accepted....some required three or four 'pushes' to get the bottle accepted and get credit on the TV screen.
All of this recycling business is time-intensive and simply adds another element of hassle onto each trip to the grocery. Adding milk and juice containers? It just up another degree or two on hassle.
The odds that wine bottles are pushed into this whole discussion in five years? Oh, I'd readily predict that.
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