Vote Yes on Bottle Bill and move us closer to sustainability

At a recent visit to Bagel World in Reading, I noticed a cardboard box over the trash bin. The notice stated that only refundable soda bottles could be placed in the box. All other glass, aluminum, and plastic containers were to be placed into the trash and eventually into a landfill. I have witnessed other eateries with similar situations. Refundable bottles were sought for redemption; all others destined for the landfill.

I imagine that one enterprising food service employee, seeking to augment his or her income, placed the cardboard box over the trash bin to make a few dollars. It is hard to imagine the number of non-refundable beverage containers from our fast-food restaurants alone that enter our landfills every week.

By placing a 5 cent deposit on all of these bottles, many of them would find themselves at a redemption center and properly recycled back into the system.

As I walked home from the Reading Depot along the train tracks up Vine Street, I estimated that I passed over 50 non-refundable beverage containers on the track “right of way”. The vast majority of them were non-refundable containers. Let’s stop the waste and vote yes on Question 2. It is long overdue.

Ron D’Addario