Can Bottles and Nickels Turn to Millions?
WITH two teenage children, and the taste for fizzy drinks that comes with them, Becky Salko rarely leaves a refundable can or bottle unredeemed. Though her take from hauling the empty cans and bottles to her local supermarket — from 85 cents to $2.50 a visit — doesn’t go far, Ms. Salko, 49, a Larchmont preschool teacher, said there was no good reason to leave behind the containers and the 5 cents each that comes with returning them to the store. “I take every possible bottle back to Stop & Shop, scrunch them and use the money from them to food shop,” she said. “To me it just feels like free money.” The load of cans and bottles toted to supermarkets each week could get heavier under a plan to expand the bottle redemption program included in Gov. David A. Paterson’s 2009-10 budget proposal. The proposal to expand the state Bottle Bill, which since 1982 has required a 5-cent refundable deposit on beer and soda cans and bottles, would require vendors to also charge a 5-cent deposit on the