Full throttle with the bottles

Regarding “Gov’t approves deposit for large bottles to encourage recycling” ( October 19), Tobias Siegel’s report on the cabinet’s decision to include drink bottles of 1.5 liters and larger among those requiring deposits was both befuddling and bemusing.

It was befuddling because it notes that the statute itself does not authorize such collection on bottles of that size, yet the report doesn’t explain under what authority the cabinet acts. The report also mentioned the involvement of the so- called High Court of Justice, but does not explain how the HCJ entered the picture. Evidently it is too much to expect JPost reporters to address such questions.

The report was bemusing because it implies that the haredi ministers are in favor of requiring deposits on larger bottles, and yet, as I recall, when the statute was passed 20 years ago or so, the haredi MKs were against requiring refundable deposits on large bottles, asserting that this would be a burden on the large families their parties represent, since such families buy many large bottles. That the money would be refunded seemed to have been lost on those MKS, and their position was reminiscent of the lawmaker from a US farm state who opposed the adoption of daylight savings time, reasoning that the extra hour of sunlight would burn the crops. Or perhaps those MKs assumed at the time that their constituents couldn’t be bothered to return their bottles for a refund of the deposit, and therefore requiring a deposit effectively increased the price, but now with 20 years’ hindsight, those same MKs give their electors more credit than they used to.

DANIEL FEIGELSON

Rehovot