Recycling bottles

Emma at the Oregon Blog points us to an article describing how beer and beverage distributors are trying to circumvent the successful, 30+ year-old bottle bill. The article describes a generally cynical Salem that is willing to tear down a hallmark of Oregon legislature. Look forward to OSPIRG showing up at your doors about this. The most interesting bit in this article is in a quote from Paul Romain, a lobbyist:

Obviously, if you can make money off it,” it makes sense to recycle, Romain said. “If you can’t, it’s stupid not to be able to take it to a landfill.”

No, it’s not stupid. This is an area where capitalism breaks down and we start needing to be people again. It’s not stupid because it is the right f’ing thing to do. Recycling is not the problem. Sustainable policies need to become a focus. This is one of the reasons that I try to support local businesses also. The ones that haven’t skipped town in favor of cheaper labor and lax environmental laws. You need to support what you believe in. I like Emma’s suggestion of eliminating the distributor middle-men completely. We may as well drop the OLCC too, they’re the ones who want the distributors anyway.