Text 16708, 38 rader
Skriven 2008-06-02 07:21:34 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
  Kommentar till text 16673 av Roy Witt (1:397/22)
Ärende: Recycling tax
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Roy Witt wrote to Robert Bashe on Sunday June 01 2008 at 17:26:

RW> Do the sellers of beverages in Germany collect a few pennies for every
RW> bottle they sell?

They have a complex system here. You have to pay a deposit for bottles and cans
of certain kinds of beverages (beer, cola, carbonated beverages, mineral
water), but not for those containing fruit juce or other "natural" juices or
things like ready-made tea. Also, this only applies to bottles and cans, not to
waxed cardboard containers ("Tetrapak"). When this system was introduced
several years ago - against vociferous protests by consumers and retailers - it
was even more complex, since you could originally only bring the containers
back to the place you bought the drinks to get a refund on the deposit.

Meanwhile, the law says that every retailer selling beverages requiring a
deposit for the container must also accept _every_ deposit bottle or can.
regardless of where it was originally purchased. The deposit bottles and cans
also have a special logo on them to make sure you can't get a deposit back for
cans or bottles purchased outside Germany, where the containers are often not
subject to a deposit (like in the Netherlands).

Now, all this is in addition to the "usual" deposit bottles (plastic cartons of
bottles containing beer, water, cola and other things - this time including
glass bottles of fruit juce and the like), which existed before the new
legislation went through and continue to exist.

If you think this is impossibly complex and not really worthwhile, I'm sure 95%
of the consuming public in Germany would agree and 100% of the retailers. But
as you know, the people aren't asked whether they like the laws anywhere, and
when a majority of the parties agree on something like this, you can't just
"vote the bums out". So we're stuck with the system, and the Dutch bless our
German lawmakers every day for the extra business they get from Germans who go
to the Netherlands to buy cases of beer in cans with_out_ a deposit.

Cheers, Bob

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 * Origin: Jabberwocky System - 02363-56073 ISDN/V34 (2:2448/44)