Larry,  it makes no sense to know require containers to be recycled. I'm sure someone already has a recycling machine that uses the bar code to eliminate those containers the store doesn't sell.

Larry~

I have a friend who lives in Oregon who prides himself on having no more than a tiny grocery bag of trash per MONTH! As you say, in Oregon..you recycle everything. What I want to know now is how do the REALTORS get recycled (I'm smiling)... and are REALTORS held in high esteem for their eco-savvy ways?...and what kind of cars do the REALTORS drive?

Gary - The current system is either large machines that read a bar code and they do in fact either accept or reject based on what they sell. The small stores do it by hand. The issue is that they are trying to make it easier to get more people to recycle. If you have to drive all over to get 5 weird beer bottles refunded you are more likely to just throw them away. If the stores have to pay a refund for a bottle they can't get refunded on without going through the same hassle they are more likely to just throw it away as well. They then get charged for having to provide a refund and their garbage bill goes up. The pundits say that they stores are raking in the dough due to a large amount of uncollected refunds.

janeAnne - Yes, we get recycled California Realtors here... just kidding. Our Realtors are some of the best in the nation. We have a strong and growing eco/green housing movement here in Oregon. Whether or not it is actually creating increased business is hard to say, as I'm not an eco expert.