Refundable deposit can encourage recycling

SINGAPORE - I could not agree more with Mr Teo Keng Chuan ("S'poreans need to put more effort into recycling"; Monday).

While I have been making a conscious effort to use the right bin to deposit my empty plastic milk bottles, imagine my consternation when I saw the cleaner at my block emptying the contents of all the three recycling bins into one big plastic bag.

I was in Cologne, Germany, recently and bought a bottle of mineral water, which was priced at 65 euro cents, from a supermarket.

The cashier charged me 90 euro cents and explained that 25 euro cents was a refundable deposit that would be returned to me when I took back the empty plastic bottle to any outlet of the supermarket chain.

This is a wonderful way to encourage customers to recycle. Perhaps our supermarkets can implement a similar system.

- Raju M. Iyer