Via the Select Society this from the Brussels Journal.

As reported recently by the German press, criminals are manipulating the German bottle deposit system
on a massive scale in order to make money. They are manufacturing
bottles, falsifying the product codes and then returning the self-made
bottles to supermarkets throughout Germany.

Obviously, there is a flaw in the entire system – even the word
“deposit” is misleading. Usually, a deposit is paid for something of
value, i.e. an item that the owner would like to have returned.
However, the item in question is a non-refundable bottle that cannot be
reused. The incentive for criminals stems from the very low production
costs – much less than one half of the deposit amount.

An entirely apt follow on from the previous post I think. Yes, really, as Uncle Milt has been telling us for more than half of the past century, incentives matter and if you think markets screw up just wait until you see what governments can do to mess things up.

One other point from Professor Friedman. It isn’t intentions that matter but outcomes. Clearly, this bottle recycling scheme does not reduce pollution nor reduce the consumption of resources. So who will defend it on anything other than the grounds that, well, our intentions are good?