Wow, an initiative supported by two entities that are universally despised and will likely no longer exist as viable organisations within 8 months.
Well, it is one of my main priorities.... since it does feed and house my family. However, it seems my pocket is the only thing the govt. cares about. BTW, quite an ironic indictment coming from a fellow stacker, given that stacking's sole purpose is to protect or enhance ones "pocket". :|
Yeah, well I'm not into having Coca-Cola dictate this country's environmental policy and if it costs me $0.001 for every container that I use to push back against the fascist state those corporations want us to live in then I'll pay it happily and they can go f*** themselves.
Everything from the composition, to the size, to the specific behavior of the packaging is a marketing exercise which we can't opt out of. IMHO disposal should be the responsibility of the manufacturer. Why should we pay for, and share the burden of their corporate pollution. Eg. If you were to throw your empty packaging on to the street, would the manufacturer see it as garbage or free advertising? Also, they spend a lot of time and money to ensure that "containers" are actually packaging married to their marketing and PR efforts. Ever try buying a single 2 litre bottle to last the week? That plastic bottle of coke is designed to go flat in 24 hrs- you'll need to buy a small bottle everyday if you like a bit of fizz. That's 5-7 plastic bottles instead of 1. Your cereal packaging is designed to open as awkwardly as possible, half your biscuits are meant to be broken, and bread is sold in plastic bags when paper bags are ideal for baked goods. Potential waste is scientifically maximised and shelf life is manipulated so food spoils quicker. We're being stooged. Even my jar of honey has a "best by" date on it
Good luck with the idea that $0.001 for each container will make a pinch of s#@t difference to the environment. It's just another grab for revenue.
Um, yeah, that $0.001 is the cost to me of having that system in place and since making a new bottle out of an old one... - uses less water - uses less energy - uses less petro-chemicals - uses less plant and equipment ...the bottle made out of recycled plastic costs less than half of what it costs to make a new plastic bottle from scratch and has a positive impact on the environment. So yes, it does make a difference. ...and assuming I use an average of 15 containers a week, at $0.001 per container that system will cost me a grand total of $58.50 over the course of my entire lifetime assuming I live to the age of 75. ...and I get to shove one up Coke's corporatist backside at the same time (which I'd actually pay sixty bucks to do anyway).
Where do we return these used containers? When I was a child we would collect glass soft drink bottles and take them back to the corner store and get 5c each for them. We would then swap them for lollies or if you struck paydirt a model plane. In those days corner stores were an important cog in the major producer's (ie Pauls, Coca Cola etc) distributorship and all bottles returned would be redeemed by the corner store operator directly with the Coca Cola/Schweppes/Kirks etc rep. Nowadays the large beverage corporations view the local store/small retailer as an insignificant piece of shit. It is cheaper for us to purchase 1.25L bottles of coke, bottles of Kirks, bottles of Bundy Ginger Beer etc from Woolies or Coles and resell to the consumer. The Reps and the Companies they represent do not give a stuff about us. The only product we buy directly from Cock-a-Cola is the 600mL bottles as they are not available in the supermarket chains. Bear in mind they cost twice as much as buying the 1.25L product from the major chains too!!!!!!!! It's an impost that will not work in this modern day. I don't know how they do it in SA, if they still do it. But why should small business be the scapegoat for collecting yet another tax? We just won't sell bottled beverages, it won't make much difference to our bottom line in the end, after all, people eat at our establishment because they like the taste of our food. Not coz we sell Breaka milk. And it'll save a lot space in our recycling bin, not to mention electricity costs. We already have BYO alcohol coz a licence is too much of a pain and most people can buy liquor cheaper than what an onseller can. Stupid idea that will be a pain in the arse to those that have to collect the "tax". Stupid idiots that come up with such an idea. No friggin idea of how to run a business or what it's like to do so. Oooh it smells sweet so it must be good. Oooh it looks sweet so it must be good. Mmmmmmm, it tastes sweet so it must be good. ^^^ Dogs like brake fluid too - but it kills them. Stupid greenies.
Call South Australia and ask what they've been doing with them for the last 35 years. That wasn't meant to be nasty, it was meant to highlight the fact that this isn't a new idea and there are no "issues" to "work through" with "stakeholders". It's a case of looking at what they do in South Australia and just copying that. Seriously, this is one of the simplest, most popular, outright bleeding obvious, oops-what-was-that-I-just-tripped-over-oh-it-appears-to-be-a-good-policy policies it would be possible for any government to introduce anywhere. And big corporations have our elected representatives afraid of implementing it because those big corporations will go to war with anyone who stands between them and a single dollar of extra profit.
The abject stupidity of the Greens knows no bounds. Last year they ran a noisy and pompous campaign to ban all bottled water sales in Australia because of the plastic waste. They managed to have it banned from sale in a small town in the southern Highlands. The idiot Watermelons only wanted water banned. Not the vastly larger soft drink in plastic bottle market. Water. In their delusional Global Warming fantasy world it's OK for school tuck shops to sell a Wide Mouth Pepsi or a bottle of Mother, but heaven forbid the kids could buy clean water. They also tried to drive for a mandate to have one of the most potent neurotoxins known to man added to all bottled water in Australia. Fluorine. The Greens are the most concentrated collection of morons with a thousand complaints but no solutions in Australia. No wonder they believe in MMGW, they are all twits.
Interesting subject. The fact that we live in one of the countries that has clean drinking water coming out of our taps - unlike two thirds of the world's population that doesn't have access to clean drinking water - means that bottled water "producers" have managed to convince us to pay up to $3 for something which we can already obtain for so little it may as well be free. To be clear, tap water is so cheap it may as well be free but we pay dollars for it when it comes in a small plastic bottle. If the Greens are stupid, what does that make the rest of us for buying bottled water? Oh, and who "produces" the best selling bottled water products? Mount Franklin Spring Water 600ml Coca Cola Amatil Mount Franklin Spring Water 1.5l Coca Cola Amatil Pump Spring Water 750ml Coca Cola Amatil Cool Ridge Spring Water 1.5l Schweppes P/L Pump Spring Water 1.25l Coca Cola Amatil Cool Ridge Spring Water 600ml Schweppes P/L
People who don't want to be forcibly medicated with fluorine chlorine and alum? If you have time and can be bothered do some research on what happens to the pineal gland where fluorine concentrates in the human body.
In SA there are people who make a living from collecting those 10cent refunds. I'm all for it. Less rubbish lying around the streets. But I agree Carbon Tax Bad. Freedom Good.
Might be cheap but it tastes horrible. Who knows what's in that stuff? Govt might claim it's safe but if something doesn't taste right, it generally means it isn't. I'll pay a bit extra for the clean, nice tasting bottled stuff thanks.
There are over a dozen non-flouridated tooth pastes readily available in Australia. Most pharmacies and larger supermarkets have at least one. Many countries are smart enough to have never introduced it or have subsequently banned it. They did this for good reason. China Austria Belgium Denmark Norway Finland Germany Japan Sweden Hungary The Netherlands.
To be fair, many bottled waters are owned by Koka Kola and Gadberry Sweeps, and they are likely just filtered tap water with toxic fluorine compounds still in the bottle. After all, tap water starts in a spring somewhere. That's all the excuse they would need. Discrimination is necessary when buying, I always read the fine print when I buy them and if they have the name of a transnational on them then I agree with Big AD, you are better off looking for a bubbler.
Floride is a topical medication. Putting it in drinking water would be ingesting a topical medication Anyway when I was studying to be a Registered Nurse Fail one and you can't ethically administer a drug. I highlighted my favourites re: fluoridating my drinking water (specifically #8). Also if it is safe then why did former Qld Premier Anna Bligh pass a law giving Public Servants immunity from prosecution for putting Fluoride in the water. Also if I put fluoride in the Brisbane River I'd be in more trouble than Flash Gordon - just sayin'
