We need a national deposit law
January 23, 2005
REGARDING THE Jan. 17 editorial "10 Cents' Worth":
Sixty years ago, when I walked to grade school along a well-traveled highway, I picked up discarded beer and softdrink bottles and turned them in for the two-cent deposit. In those days when a Hershey bar or a Coke cost a nickle, stooping down for just five bottles would pay for a double treat.
The other day, walking along the scenic road on which I live, I found a smashed jar and the spray of its contents along the frozen roadside slush: about $10 in small change. Because it was bitterly cold, I picked up only the bigger pieces of glass and all of the nickles, dimes, and quarters I could find. The next warm day, I'll stoop down for the rest.
The Globe's Jan. 17 editorial calling for a nickle increase in the Massachusetts deposit on bottles and cans strikes me as unrealistic in a time when litterbugs are literally throwing money away, and when many Bay Staters buy their beverages in my state, which does not have a deposit law.
We need a national deposit law on all beverage containers, and the deposit should be at least two bits -- enough to pay for the "stoop" labor of poor kids and thrifty senior citizens.
JULIAN SMITH
Durham, N.H.