Dear Readers,

Today’s Topic:   Legal Loophole

I ventured over to a major supermarket on Friday to redeem some glass soda bottles along with a case of Pellegrino bottles.  I had no problem with the Pellegrino bottles, however the soda bottles were rejected by the recycling machine.   They were clearly  marked for Connecticut (5 – cent redemption), but I soon remembered (as I have encountered before) that stores do not have to accept bottles and cans that they do not sell.

The soda bottles in question were produced by Smucker’s under the Natural Brew label.  Natural Brew ginger ale and root beer are two of the best soda’s I’ve had in a long time.   They are brewed in  a small batch process, similar to  that of a microbrewery in the beer industry.  I feel that if a store accepts bottle returns, especially a large supermarket chain store, they should have to take any bottle or can marked for the particular state where they operate.

If this were made the law, I do not believe retailers would be flooded with an abundance of recyclables that would make their program unmanageable or unprofitable.     I believe the stores  exploiting this loophole in the Connecticut bottle recycling statues are doing so for purely selfish reasons.   They want to force you to buy only the sodas that they carry.

I rarely buy soda at the aforementioned large supermarket (Shaw’s) because they only sell brands that are sweetened with high fructose corn syrup.   Whenever possible, I always purchase soft drinks sweetened with REAL SUGAR!!   I can taste the difference and my body knows it too.   Ohhhhhh…..don’t get me going on that high fructose corn syrup…..  I’ll save that for a future Update / newsletter article.

I’d love to know if you’d have similar experiences recycling beverage containers.