Wow, that sounds horrible. I tried googling this since I hadn't heard about this before. I came across one 11 year old who his parents claimed died of hypothermia. However, the autopsy revealed that his death was due to carbon monoxide.
I’m not aware of any cases beyond that one - however, that case is still due to the failed electricity grid. When power went out and homes began to freeze, Texans fired up cars and generators to keep heat around. Harris county alone saw almost 600 cases of CO poisoning during the blackout.
That interpretation isn't justified. The author makes it clear that she is still financially dependent on her parents, who still collect cans for a living.
This story is set in Brooklyn, so the author's parents are likely benefiting from the five cent deposit on every beverage can sold in the state of New York [0].
Can deposits are a great idea, in my opinion. Why don't more places have them? They give people an incentive to recycle (so they get their deposit back), and if they choose to litter, whoever cleans up after them gets the money.
Because it obfuscates costs and creates complexity that can cause more issues, such as people raiding garbage bins.
It would be more straightforward if government paid for cleanup of litter and it becomes a part of the spending budget where the amount of spend can be tracked.
And teach children not to litter and cultivate that sense of responsibility for one’s environment.
In the end, the deposit is a simpler and low-cost low-effort solution. It's probably the best example of a policy where a small change to law can impact behavior greatly.
If you go to a city with a plastic bag tax, you'll notice that far fewer people are using plastic bags. Cashiers won't automatically drop a single item into a bag, they'll ask if you need them and even when they do, they'll use fewer bags.
The funny thing is, a policy like a 7 cent bag tax is incredibly negligible. That means your big-ass shopping trip with 20 plastic bags is costing you $1.40 if you choose to go that route. You could absolutely choose to do that every time you shop for groceries and it wouldn't affect your finances. But that's the thing, people see a financial incentive, and no matter how small, they take it. Similarly, that's why the can/bottle deposit is so effective.
I read this article recently about giving people a tiny monetary incentive to go to the gym got people to go back:
Surely, these gym members spent more money on gas to just get themselves to the gym in the first place!
Prosecution of littering is impractical, "it doesn't scale," as one might say. It's nearly impossible to catch that crime as it occurs.
I'm not even sure that "raiding garbage bins" is an issue. I guess sometimes people digging through garbage make a mess, but every time I see this happen in real life the people doing it are relatively respectful and make sure the trash stays in the bin.
Local governments already do pay for the cleanup of litter, but the problem is that litter is just everywhere. It's a losing numbers game. You'd have to hire a literal army to keep it in check.
By the way, can/bottle deposits don't cost the taxpayer money! It's a tax you pay on the drinks when you buy them, and you get it back when you return them. That's why it's called a deposit.
There was an app called GymPact that charged you (an amount you determined) if you didn’t go to the gym as you agreed - I think it went as rewards to the people who did show
