Day 24 - Pantsystemet

No, this is not the system by which the Danish government provides every Dane with pastel colored trousers. That's for another day.

This is the Danish bottle and can deposit system. We were used to a similar system in Massachusetts. In Massachusetts you pay a $0.05 / per can or bottle. But in Michigan...

At some point it became too much of a hassle to return them. I got lazy and quit doing it. There wasn't enough economic incentive to save them, bundle them together, and then take them to the deposit center. Especially the big two liter bottles that, still, only paid $0.05.

By the end of our stay, I accepted it as a tax and put it out with the recycling for the "can collectors" to grab. Just me, giving my bit back to society. You're welcome.

So back to the Danish Pantsystemet. Here in Denmark there is economic incentive to return them. Check out this chart (remembering that 1 DKK ~ $0.18)

One-way packaging		Deposit
Type A	All cans and  botles under 1 litre, escept plastic bottles	DKK 1.00
Type B	Plastic bottles under 1 litre	DKK 1.50
Type C	Cans, glass and plastic bottles of 1 litre and over	DKK 3.00

Woah. We're talking more than three times the deposit for cans and up to ten times more for large plastic bottles. As an aside, "One-way packaging" means that the can or bottle is only single use. It is collected by the recycling center, melted down, and used for making post consumer goods. According to Dansk Retursystem A/S,

»Teddies and fleeces can be made from old plastic bottles
– Please recycle!«

Oh the joy of cuddling up with Faygo the bear! I'm just kidding, of course they don't have Faygo here. Get on it Detroit! In Detroit's defense, I did see an Escalade here the other day, so they're working on it.

Here's a nice video from the folks at MyDenmarkTV. Basically, today we're focusing on the first section with regard to Pant.



I especially liked the summer bottle collecting. Perhaps I need to purchase some sort of trolley device. Maybe this isn't quite the type of entrepreneur spirit that our buddy Mitt was talking about. Assembling my army of can-collecting vagrants and college students will have to wait another day.

Thanks to MyDenmarkTV. It's just a wonderfully put together product. I can't wait to watch them all.