Transcription
Before I start, let me get a little refreshment. That sucks, you couldn't hear the sound of the can opening on the mic. Good old Liquid Death. It'd be really ironic if, like, in a couple of years, he comes to find out, like, "Hey guys, this stuff actually gave you cancer or some wild thing like that." But it was like, "Hey, it was in the name, you should have did your homework." Like with anything else.
So, my name is Victorious, and I created this channel as a form of leaving journal entries. I would love for my family to be able to look at this later down the line, my friends, etc., whoever gets to know me and, um, feels like the information that I'm putting out there is valuable, to be able to leave this so they can, like, watch later on and, you know, kind of immortalize myself in a way.
But, um, the topic I want to talk about, I want to talk about today is the New York bottle deposit. First, I'm going to tell you about what, before, before today, what I thought that the system was. Then, I'll give you some actual information on how the system works. And, um, in the end, I will tell you what I currently know, what I've been updated, how I opened my eyes, and etc.
So, growing up in New York, I always saw people picking up the cans, uh, which were primarily like, uh, Spanish women, Asian women, the minorities were always picking up the cans. Uh, it definitely intrigued me. I'm like, "Is this worth it?" Um, like, it wasn't really the money that intrigued me, it was more the, the action of it.
So, learning, um, going back and, um, doing my homework, I started to familiarize myself with, uh, with what has a bottle deposit on it. If you weren't aware of how the bottle deposit works, is you go to the, the, you go to the store, you purchase your items. Most likely, it's going to be like a case of water or whatever. If it has a bottle deposit in New York, you will be paying a 5-cent deposit on that container, which then is up to you whether you want to take it back to the store and claim your money, or you can either throw it out and somebody else will pick it up and claim it for you. And that's how it works. There is a marriage between the, the label and the actual material. But let me not get too ahead of myself. So that's how the bottle bill works, etc.
I started to familiarize myself with the different containers that had a deposit on it. I first started going to the, the machines at the supermarket, putting the, the cans in there one by one. Um, I even found out, allegedly, that like, back in the day, you can actually take the can and break it in half and put it in there. But that was complete [ __ ]. Um, but, um, it was funny because when I was putting the cans in there, people would look at me differently. People would look at me like, "Why are you here?" You know, like, "You should be doing something else. You shouldn't be like picking up cans." And it was like this whole hierarchy thing, which I really don't like in life. I feel like we should all be at a certain level, um, and we should all treat each other equally. I don't feel like we need to, you know, be putting ourselves down because of whatever the financial scenario is or whatever it may be, you know? Um, but I would go there and I would deposit my cans. Actually, like, I would speak to a few people and ask them like, you know, why they're doing this, etc. Most of the people would tell me like, you know, "Just to get an extra couple of bucks." Which makes complete sense. And, um, yeah, that was mainly the, the reaction from people. Or people that weren't, um, mainly, it was just to get a couple of bucks. It wasn't like, it wasn't really driven by, "Hey, I want to help, uh, clean the environment," or "I want to help put these items back into rotation." It wasn't really about that. It was more about getting their money back or redeeming the money that someone else didn't do, didn't, didn't like, redeem the money.
Going to that, let me get a sip of that. This Liquid Death. Okay.
So, I continue, um, researching. I utilize YouTube. Oh, what's happening right now? So, as I was saying before the camera started freezing up on me, I went down this rabbit hole on YouTube, right? Whenever I have a topic, um, I'll just go online, I'll look it up. But one of the main tools that I use is YouTube, uh, because I can do multiple things at the same time. I might be driving and I can listen to a video, or I could be doing something else, uh, that requires my hands, but I can be listening to the video as well. I went down this rabbit hole and I learned a lot about how the redeem, the, the recycling system, which I feel like we need to, um, it, it gets like cloudy. It, it shouldn't. You hear recycling, but then you think that everything is that case, when it's just not. But let me not get too into that.
So, I went on this rabbit hole. Um, I found out, I saw a bunch of videos when it came down to like recycling, how the bottle deposit works, etc. Um, I saw a lot of things that I was like, I was very surprised about. And, um, I'm, what I, what I was really surprised about was the fact like, how, how, how things work and we really don't have any idea of actually what's happening behind the scenes. But before I get into what I learned, I want to share some actual facts with you so that, um, you can be informed as well. Okay, let me find out. Okay, cool. Let me give you some brief information. Okay, boom.
So, the bottle deposit is actually called the bottle scheme, which I really don't like that. Um, hold on a second. Let me see. I meant to actually do this before. What is the meaning of scheme? Google. Okay, hold on a second. Connect for me. Okay. Meaning of scheme. Okay, a large-scale systematic plan or arrangement of attaining a particular object or putting a particular idea in effect. I'm Googling this as we speak. I'm just like, but it's actually called the bottle scheme.
Okay, so the B, the bottle bill, also known as the beverage container deposit law, is a system that aims to reduce litter and promote recycling by by requiring a refundable deposit on beverage containers. The first bottle bill was introduced in Oregon in 1971, requiring a refundable deposit on beer and soft drink containers. This incentivized customers to return empty containers for recycling to reclaim their deposit. Over time, many other states adapted similar laws, and with variations in the types of containers covered and deposit amounts.
Let me see what else. Okay, um, reduce litter. Bottle Bill has, bottle bills have significantly decreased the amount of beverages container litter. In states with these laws, for example, after implementing a bottle bill, Michigan saw a 76% reduction in beverage container litter. And in 2018, the beverage container recycling rate was around 70% in states with bottle bills versus only 24% in non-deposit states.
Resource, okay, boom. Uh, recycling beverages, contain, recycling beverage containers, save energy, reduce greenhouse emissions, and conserve natural resources like aluminum, glass, and plastic. So these, okay, so let's run that back. It was the bottle bill, uh, first started in 1971 in Oregon, and then a couple of other states followed along in the process because they felt like it was helping, which it did, because it dropped it down from, uh, they saw, uh, an effective increase. What was it? Uh, after implementing the bottle bill, Michigan saw a 76% reduction in, um, beverage container litter, which is, that's awesome. Okay, cool.
So, let's move along as far as, um, how it goes. Okay, returning, uh, convincing the consumer, returning containers for deposit can be, can seem as an inconvenience, especially in areas with limited redemption centers. I'm going to, uh, I'll, I'll round back to this and I'll tell you the information that I currently know now that ties into that. Bottle bill can lead to higher beverage prices for consumers, and additional cost for distributors and retailers to handle container, to handle container returns and deposits. No, but I, I should just more tell you the exactly which states currently have a bottle bill.
So, currently, the only states in the United States, right, which, if I'm correct, is 52 states. The only states that have a bottle bill are California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Vermont. So, I did a little math, and that is 16% of the entire United States. So there's still an 84% there's still 84% part of the United States that does not have a bottle bill. So that means, so that means that all the containers that you purchase in that state are most likely going to end up in a landfill. Food for thought. He means containers without a bottle deposit. Containers are, um, plastic, aluminum, and glass, right? Uh, let me see what else. What else? What else? Uh, let me see. Discuss. Okay. Redeem items. Outline what type of drinking containers are eligible to. Okay. When it comes to, okay, plastic bottles and aluminum cans. Fun fact, there are a lot of items that, um, you purchase at your local bodega, store, whatever, that don't have a bottle deposit. So the way you're going to find if it has a bottle deposit is like in cans, the, the containers up here. If it's in a, let's say, in a bottle, right, you're going to find the, you're going to find it like right over here, conveniently, right? So when you go in, in, in the shelf of the store, you'll notice that a lot of the stuff doesn't have it. And the most popular stuff doesn't have a bottle deposit, like Snapple, Arizona, uh, Brisk, which is very popular, but doesn't have a bottle deposit. So, in, in a way, you're legit paying to create more litter in your city by purchasing items that don't have a bottle deposit because by, they're not being tied to that bottle deposit, it doesn't give people incentive to actually go and, um, do the, do the, do the correct thing and actually like recycle or take the next step to actually put it back into the system.
Okay, let me give you some statistics on, um, the current scenario. And this is coming from, what year was this? I believe this was, this wasn't this long ago. I believe this was like, um, where is it telling me? Okay, cool. Okay, this is coming from 2020, right? Okay. One more swig of this.
So, I had mentioned before the states that have had a, a bottle bill, right? Again, which are California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Vermont. As of 2020, that, that was four years ago. The reigning champ was, let me see, let me see, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Michigan. Michigan was the reigning champ, and, um, they had an 80, 89.9%, um, 89% return rate of bottles, right? They, uh, they're at 10 cents. They have on their list of items, beer, soda, mineral water, kombucha, wine coolers, distilled spirit coolers, whatever that means, right?
Percentage of beverage containers sold eligible for. Okay. In, in Michigan, right, only 70, 57% of the containers on the shelf actually had a bottle deposit. And from here, let me see, I'm going to, I'm going to show, I'm going to show this image just so you can like, also see it. But here, currently, Maine is the one leading the way when it comes to beverages that actually have a bottle deposit. They have a 91%, um, bottle deposit on the containers on your shelf, right? Which is awesome. It should be 100%. It should be, be everything, you know? And the lowest is, let me see. Vermont is, is it? No, no, no. I'm sorry. It is Massachusetts with only 42% of the containers on your shelf have a bottle deposit. And that's only, round down to beer, soda, mineral water. And their rate is 5 cents. Let me see. Connecticut, Connecticut actually just went up 10 cents and they're doing awesome. People are going like, bonkers over there. So, um, yeah, these are currently, this is currently what's happening. Uh, again, I'm going to show this image so you can take a look at it.
Um, okay, let me give you some more insights, uh, as far as like waste. So, one liter, uh, a one liter jug of soda water, whatever you like to call it, is actually, uh, five, 500 milliliters. Uh, let me see. The, the weight of an empty half liter, I'm sorry, half liter is five, 500 milliliters, not a liter. Half, half a liter plastic water bottle can vary on average, which is weight, boom. Okay.
So, um, if you're looking, the magic number is 50 billion bottles are being used annually in the United States. So let's round that number down to something that you can wrap your brain around, right? And, um, let's say this, right? So the number of 50, 50 billion bottles, the way it would look, let's say an average African elephant weighs 13,000 pounds. So 50 billion water bottles would weigh as much as about 76, 76,976 elephants. Um, I'm going to try to generate a number, an image so you can wrap your, your brain more around that. Now, if we're looking at it like more of a famous building, and let's say the Empire State Building, it's estimated to weigh 365,000 pound tons, which in pounds comes out to 700, 730 million pounds. The bottles would weigh more than the building, roughly the equivalent of 1.1.37 Empire State Buildings. So, a building and a quarter, that's how many bottles would actually, like, that's how much it would weigh.
So now that you know some facts about the actual bottle bill, currently I've come to learn that, um, all right. So currently, I am working at a redeem, I'm working at a redemption center. I drive the, I drive a truck. My job is to go out and, um, purchase the bottles from individuals who collect them in the street, kind of like the, if the machine was, um, the best way I could put it is like, we, we go home to home and we buy the bottles from you. But we buy at a certain amount. We don't buy small amounts. It doesn't really make sense for me to come see you for a small amount when it takes, it costs more money for the truck to be turned on, insurance, etc. It has to be, um, it has to make sense. Excuse me, it has to make sense, right? So my job consists of people calling me, "Hey, how's it going? How are you?" Okay, cool. "You have a pickup? Where are you located? How many pieces do you have?" Etc., right? I'll give you the breakdown on how things work, on how you're supposed to separate them, all that good stuff, right? I show up to the residents, "Hey, how's it going?" I look at the merchandise. I make sure that things are in, in, in correct order. Uh, once that is done, I will count the, I'll count the, the count with the, with the client to make sure that we're both on the same page. I will load up the merchandise, right? And then at the end, I will pay them cash.
Now, I've been doing this for, for about two years now. I recently actually went to Albany, which, uh, is very surprising to me because if you had told me that I was going to be doing this a couple of years ago, I would have most likely told you you're crazy. Uh, maybe I could have been like, "Maybe, but for what reason?" But I went up to Albany. I've actually went up a few times. Um, what this is my first, the third time. Third time. June 3rd is actually going to be the fourth. Um, I'll fill you in more on that in a minute. But, um, yeah, I went up to Albany to try to help the whole situation with the bottle bill, to try to change the bottle bill from the current 5 cents to the 10 cents. Uh, if you weren't aware, the last raise there was on the bottle bill was actually 14 years ago. And, um, you got to understand, the people that do this, and the people that are like the unsigned sanitation workers, they also got to make a living too. There's no incentive when you're going and you're digging into through trash day after day because another thing I'm going to tell you this is that I've noticed in this job is that this is a responsibility you now have. You now created a pact with this person that this person relies on you, relies on you heavily. So now you've taken on this responsibility of where like they're going to call you, they're going to deposit their bottles with you, and, um, you got to be there because if not, you know, they're going to go somewhere else, etc., which is understandable. But again, this is like, especially like when you do good service and people really like, like working with you, they're going to keep calling you. So you got to understand that like these people rely on you and you can't just sit back and be like, "Oh, I don't feel like working today," or whatever the case may be. Like, no, they're, they're out there getting this every day, like consistently because a lot of the times when I leave my clients, I'll see them either before I pick them up or after I pick them up, going right back out there to go pick up more cans and bottles. So, and it's funny because people will pass by and be like, "Oh, so much money," and this and that. And I'm like, "You should try it too. Go try it. Go, go pick up them cans." You know what I mean? And then talk to me about how much money it took to make that happen.
But what I, what I've, but let me backstep and actually explain, uh, a little bit of what I've learned and what I've come to understand. So, going out that rabbit hole that I had went down previously, before I got into where I'm at today, I've learned that, uh, a lot of the, a lot of the, the single-use items that we have, if they don't get deposited, like if they don't get redeemed, there's a good chance they're going to end up in the landfill. Um, currently, I mean, this happens all the time. There are other countries that, um, that utilize the resources that we have, even from the waste, right? So they'll actually buy the waste from us, rummage through whatever they, they feel like is valuable because of course, there's some kind of value and that's why they're buying it off of you, and then they dump the rest of it into whatever, like, you know, their backyard or because of course, they have like more lax, uh, laws out there, well, depending on where you are and who you know how to like move, you get what I mean? And you'll just throw it somewhere else. But, um, it's, if, when you think about it, it's kind of like a no-brainer. You're paying me to get rid of the stuff, and you're getting rid of it for me. Yeah, I mean, if I was in a, if I was a huge country and I was trying to get rid of waste and you're paying me for it, I'm most likely going to take that, you know? And it sounds messed up, but it's the reality. Um, what else have I learned? Okay, so they take it, they go, and they, they dump it into their country and like, you know, and then it just turns into more waste. They create a landfill somewhere else. Cool. Oh, wait, it's [ __ ] up. This off.
Um, so currently, what I know is that, um, we in New York are trying to change the bottle system. We're, we're trying to change the bottle deposit from 5 cents to 10 cents. How is this going to be helpful? It's going to secure that the people who are currently picking up the bottles today are going to keep doing that. Without the proper incentive, these people are going to stop picking them up. You're going to start noticing a lot more litter in the streets. Uh, things are going to start looking really different. I understand that we currently, you know, we live in a, in a very speedy, how can I put it to you? In a, in a very fast-paced city. But these people are crucial to our streets staying clean. They're misfortune of not being able to to maybe get a certain job or whatever the case may be. A lot of people even do this because they're just home and they have nothing else to do and they're like, "Yo, I need to do something to to at least like stay motivated, right?" They are crucial. If, like, you have to understand that like sanitation, cleaning up, it is a pillar of society. These people are crucial. And if they go, are you going to pick them up? Are you going to take them there? A lot of the times when you go to the machines, the machines don't even take the item that you're taking there. Why? For whatever reason. Sometimes certain, um, certain stores will not take a container that they don't actually, um, have in stock, just to prevent like overloading of like a bunch of other other stuff, right? So again, the, the machines mess up. Redemption centers are actually closing all over the place right now. Reason being that the cost of, of doing business in New York is getting, it's getting, it's getting, it's getting astronomical. It's getting too crazy. Um, but the, the wage that has been set in place has not increased. Hasn't, it hasn't increased in many years. And this needs to change now. If this doesn't change, again, this is going to cause a crazy influx. It is going to cause more redemption centers to close down, and you will see more litter in the streets. So if you want the streets to stay at least somewhat clean, not saying the streets of New York are completely clean, but at least to an extent that you don't see bottles everywhere, you need to do your part. And you need to call your council person, your senator. Um, I'm going to provide some info on here too on who you should be calling. Um, but the thing to is that, uh, it works off a zip code depending on like what, what area you're in. And that's when you would call your, um, your, uh, what is it called? Senator. Your Senator. Your, um, what is it called? Hold on a second. Damn, what is it called? Legislator. Yes, your legislator. That's who you're going to actually, uh, be getting in contact with. If, if you want, you can actually, um, type in your zip code on here, or what I'm going to do is I'm going to leave the, the link to the website so this way you could just type in the information yourself. And, um, you can find out who your, uh, local council person is. You can give them a call, be like, "Hey, listen, we really need to change, change the current situation with the 5-cent deposit to the 10 cents to allow this to continue to like, to to keep happening."
Now, you're probably asking yourself, "But wait, that means that there's going to be more money coming out of my pocket." Yeah, you're right. But now we spent money on a lot of more useless things that, um, we just squander all the time, like liquor, clothing. There's just certain things that we just squander and we throw out. But the thing is that we don't have that same association with the bottles. We don't look at it the same way. We don't, we don't take our time out and say, "Hey, I need to make this happen so that, you know, I can maintain that the streets are clean." You don't have to believe what I'm saying, right? I, I really do hope that you do your own homework. I hope that you become more, more involved in what's current, currently happening so that, um, you can then come at me and tell me, "Hey, you're wrong. Like, you should have been pointing this out," or etc. Like, I want to have these discussions with people so that, um, I can better understand the scenarios that are taking place. But, um, again, currently, what I'm seeing right now is that we need to change the bottle bill. It needs to go from five to 10 cents. Um, again, we've been going up to Albany. We are actually going back to Albany June 3rd. Um, I'll provide some of the, the video that, um, that I took while I was up there. It was actually all right. Um, we took a bus up there, 55 people. We rallied. We tried to, you know, tell the lawmakers, like, "Yo, we need to change this." And, um, currently, it seems like we're doing really good, but we're getting some, um, we're getting some, some pushback from bigger companies that currently this bill will make them become more accountable of the actions they're doing. The best way I can describe this is like going to the gym. The gym sometimes isn't fun. Not everybody wants to go to the gym, but it's super crucial as you're getting older, etc., just for health, mental health, all those great things. Now, again, back to the analogy with the gym, you do things that sometimes are are not fun so that you can get better results. And we need to make sure that our streets stay clean so that we can get better results. Now, again, this is just like, it just, it needs, it needs to change.
But, um, I just want to finish this off with saying thank you so much for watching. If you've made it this far, um, I'm going to keep updating you guys on, um, after this. I'm going to make, uh, another episode on this topic after June 3rd so that, um, you guys can stay updated to what's happening. Currently, from what I'm aware of, the deadline is June 6th. So if this doesn't happen by June 6th, it will not happen this year. It will, we will have to wait till next year, go back in January and keep rallying so we can change the, the current bottle deposit in New York. Again, it may seem like it's going to come out of your pocket, and it is, because these, these distributors are not coming out of their own pocket. You're paying for it, and it's your job to go redeem it. So they've honestly, like, in a way, kind of like tricked you of like, "Hey, you want you want recycling? Cool. You'll pay for it, and you're going to be the system." But, uh, yeah, if we don't inform ourselves and we don't know what's currently taking place, we're just like, we're just creating our own conclusions, and that's not really the reality that is taking place. So let's, let's do more homework. Let's do more research on things and share it with the rest of the world. This information needs to be known. More people need to be involved. More voices need to be heard. And, um, yeah, let's do it. I thank you so much. H, I, I, I've been dragging my feet a little bit doing these videos, but I need to do them more. Um, it makes me excited to, to be able to like, think about how these videos could potentially help other people and, um, give them a, a different perspective and a better, at least, you know, just, just be aware what's happening as opposed to just like creating a conclusion in your mind and thinking that this is how it works, but when it really doesn't work like that.
But also, another thing I wanted to say was recycling shouldn't be considered recycling. We redeem items. Recycling means gallons of milk, um, gallons of milk. What else? Uh, your peanut butter container, butter container, all that stuff. That's recycling. What I currently do is I buy the bottle deposit. They're two different. They're the same. They're the same entity, but two different sectors, right? Because the, the, the butter container doesn't have the same value as the water bottle. Reason being that this is like mixed with like other stuff, like, I don't know, you could put like, throw it in spaghetti or whatever. And then, um, the water bottle is a more, it's a cleaner material, so it holds more value. But yeah, thank you so much. Uh, I'll see you in the next, um, entry of my journal. And, um, yeah, this is Road to Victories. Um, I'll be sharing with you my ups and my downs. And, um, I'm, I'm excited about this. All right, cool. Thank you so much. Uh, before I leave you too, uh, if you enjoyed the information that you saw, please press the like button. This is going to help other people see my videos. And, um, if you want to stay up to date with what's happening with me and the videos that I'll be putting out, please subscribe to the channel.