Abstract |
On May 17, 1976 the Yosemite Park and Curry Co. with the support of the National Park Service and the Environmental Protection Agency voluntarily instituted a 5-cent deposit on all beer and soft drink containers, both retail and vended, sold in Yosemite National Park, California. Prior to the promulgation of Beverage Container Guidelines applicable to Federal installations in September 1976, the Yosemite Park and Curry Co. decided to make the deposit system a permanent operating feature. The purpose of the deposit is to provide consumers with a monetary incentive to return empty containers for a deposit refund. Beverage containers are returned to the beverage distributor if they are refillable bottles or sold as scrap if they are nonrefillable bottles or cans. The sale of returned containers as scrap helps to finance the program. It also reduces the solid waste management burden in the Park. The purpose of this report is to present the results or impacts of the deposit experiment over its first summer of operation. |