1. Something that someone pays 10 cents a pound for is worth 10 cents a pound, even if that someone is the STUPID governmnt of Michigan.
Let's see. It's not ten cents a pound, it is ten cents a can. Ten cents that has theoretically been collected at the time of sale, and theoretically returned at the time of redemption. If the deposit was never paid, then redeeming that deposit is fraud and is illegal.
2. You seem to be under the impression that aluminium cans come with a passport or something. Aluminium is a commodity and does not have a locality attached to it.
You seem to be under the impression that the State of Michigan is paying all comers for whatever aluminum they happen to bring along, be it cans, used foil, or a 747 wing.
As a matter of fact, cans eligible for deposit redemption does come with a passport of sorts. It is stamped right on the can if it is eligible for the deposit program. Cans bought in states without a deposit program do not have that stamp. Redeeming cans without a stamp is fraud.
We aren't talking about bags of shredded Boeing 747s here. Stores crush the cans they have redeemed to reduce the storage bulk, then return those bags to the state, who weigh the bags of crushed cans to determine the count inside the bags. That's all. Not too hard to comprehend.
This group had someone on the inside of a store to accept bags of crushed cans, who then turned them into the State for reimbursement, which is commiting fraud.
The State does NOT accept bags of crushed cans from the general public, only from retailers.
Clearer now?
“Cans bought in states without a deposit program do not have that stamp”
Depends on the product. I just checked my fridge and some had the deposit info and some didn’t. The Anhueser Bush product didn’t, the bottled water did. The soft drinks only had ME and HI, either of which would a long trip from TN