Maine's five-cents-per-container deposit began in early 1977, and yet it's still only that exact same amount today --- yup, in well over FORTY YEARS, the amount of "green" that you get for recycling a
soft-drink bottle or beer can hasn't gone up past just a nickel, even though a "Tommy disc" isn't worth nearly so much nowadays as it was "
way back when"! It's no wonder, therefore, that fewer and fewer people are bothering to actually cash in their own drink-containers or pick up ones that litterbugs have tossed... sounds like da classic "law of diminishing returns" to me... yep, da state had originally voted in da returnable-bottle law in an effort to reduce waste and
beautify our countryside, but nowadays our roadsides and parks are actually MORE cluttered than ever before!