There is a group out there that has been discriminated against for a long time. They are not treated fairly. They don’t have the same rights as others. Society ignores their rights, their mistreatment, and sometimes just plain ignores them. I am, of course, talking about no-deposit bottles, or as they call themselves, the “non-fivers.” They’ve been speaking up, taking to the streets and letting their voices be heard: they, too, want to be deposited for five cents. Their message is being heard, and right now it’s closer than ever to actually happening.
The non-fivers are the water bottles, juice bottles and sports drink bottles that people drink every day; but at the end of the day, they are not treated like their fellow beer and soda bottles. Where beer and soda bottles end up in a recycle bin or at a deposit center, a non-fiver usually has a different fate.
Yes, it could end up in the recycling center, but not many do. In fact, only 20 percent of non-fivers are recycled. Most end up on the streets or in the trash. Eventually they go to the dump or to incinerators, where one billion bottles are burned every year in Massachusetts-so even if a non-fiver does get recycled, there’s a good chance it may never see that recycling plant again. Its next time satisfying someone’s thirst could be the last time, and each has to live every day of their lives with this nightmare. Non-fivers have always seen the injustices placed upon them, but kept quietly until recently. Ever since the incident of a non-fiver refusing to leave a bag filled with soda and beer cans that was being taken to a deposit center, there have been non-fiver movements popping up all over Massachusetts. Dr. Martin Luther Poland Spring Jr. leads many of these protests and marches. Just this summer, he led a march to the state house and gave a speech in which he profoundly cried, “Deposit us at last! Deposit us at last! By God Almighty, deposit us at last!” Dr. Spring isn’t the only outspoken political activist, though: there is also Hi-C Du Bois and controversial leader Vitamin X. Together these activists have united non-fivers to demand the same treatment as their fellow soda and beer can bottles. They now have a bill in the legislature that, if passed, will allow them to be deposited. It’s called the Updated Bottle Bill.
The original Bottle Bill became law in 1982. It fast became the most successful recycling program in the state. Non-fivers were not very prominent at the time so they weren’t included in the bill; but as the years passed, more and more came out. They now make up nearly a third of all the bottles on store shelves. If the bill passes through the legislature, it will require all drink containers have a five-cent deposit. This will have a huge impact, as 70-80 percent more containers will be recycled.
Let’s end the intolerance toward the no-deposit bottles. If you don’t want to do it just for their rights to be deposited, then do it for the environment. With cleaner air, cleaner water, and less litter, towns will save money. These drink containers just want a chance to be recycled.They want it so that even a homeless person won’t avoid eye contact when they walk by them, but instead will pick them up.
Do it so kids who lose a baseball can collect their Gatorade and water bottles, go deposit them all and buy a new ball to play with. Most of all, do it for you, the college student-you, who after a night of drinking hugs a water bottle or a Gatorade bottle or any number of non-fiver drinks that are great for hangovers; and when you collect all your beer cans and add up what they would be if you deposited them, you’ll look over at that non-deposit container and you won’t just see it as the thing that helped your headache but also as the thing that gave you the exact five cents you need to buy yourself a 40 for tonight’s party. In the end, that’s all the non-deposits really want: to be used by you, to be recycled by you, and then be used again. “Recycled at last! Recycled at last! Thank God Almighty, recycled at last!”