Recycling "scam"

Recycling is always a hot topic and Hawaii is attempting to "do its part". The method for this is dubious and from a practical stand-point, rather unsound. But, then again, what can one really expect from the minds of career politicians in the State capitol.

To give a nutshell rundown of the current program, consumers pay a $.05 surcharge on all cans and bottles marked with a HI-5 sticker or label. This constitutes all the 12 oz. drink cans, 8.5 oz. drink cans, 20 oz. bottles, I believe 1 L bottles, etc., etc,. etc. There is also a $.01 non-refundable "administrative" fee which brings the total "deposit" total to $.06. I cannot be the only person that thinks this is 1) another tax being stuck on the already heavily taxed consumer and 2) a complete rip-off.

Moving on to redemption next, the recycling centers weigh the materials brought then calculate the number of items and then pay out the calculated amount. Given that small and large containers are not seperated from one another, this is at the best really bad math and at the worst a legal scam.

Do not get me wrong, recycling is important and should be done, but not when programs like this are used to constantly rip us off. The really sad thing is hardly anyone, the average person, looked at the bill before it passed and the cretin politicians that passed it just get re-elected. There are some people that do try and halt ridiculous things like this from passing, but there is an overwhelming amount of blind support to overcome every time.