this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2023
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There will be exemptions for legitimate uses of nitrous oxide, for example in medical or catering industries. The gas is commonly used as a painkiller and for producing whipped cream in cooking.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

They'll have to wait with just taking the deposit money since for quite a long time you wouldn't know if they're returning it or not. And if it's anything like other systems, you can return it to different place than the one you paid for, which requires moving money around and whatnot. And there's the issue of getting them from the stores to be recycled and overall upkeep and governance of the system and so on.

The systems are a lot more complex than one might think at first.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I didn't say it was simple, but it's straightforward and very far from unfeasible.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It sure is a thing that can be done, it's just a lot of effort and possibly cost for what it might achieve

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

But there are tons of costs with criminalisation, too. The cost of police time, the cost of court time, the cost of prison, the loss of production from otherwise good citizens being made into criminals. Which is the better use of public resources? Which would be more effective at actually preventing cannisters from being left around everywhere?

Edit: If anything, making it illegal could lead to more litter. People aren't going to hang on to their empties if they could be used as evidence of a crime.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It seems strange to me to even consider the two as ways of combating litter

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Well, cannisters are the only real problem here. All the expert advise said the drug was a non-issue, however there are certainly a lot of cannisters being left all over the place, creating a visible problem. Criminalising it probably won't do anything about the visible problem, it will just incur costs and make otherwise law abiding citizens into criminals.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I was just saying that the deposit systems aren't as simple as one might initially think.

I've done laughing gas and while it was fun I don't really care whether it's legal or not. It seems like a very minor thing.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@TWeaK @RaivoKulli B12 consumption causing spinal cord degeneration is an issue.
Also N2O is a greenhouse gas, and supports combustion more effectively than pure oxygen, not very bad in small quantities and controlle,d spaces.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yes, there are problems with long term or excessive use, I shouldn't have said it was a non-issue.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@RaivoKulli @TWeaK if someone hands you 10 cans, they've handed you 10 cans. How don't you know?
They don't need tracking.

(If a store hands you 100kg of cans, they've handed you 100kg. Audit would need you to weigh them and know their name, but little else.)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'm sure shops will be happy to pay out of pocket for cans not purchased from them. You'd need some form of balancing in the system.

Like I said, seems very simple if you don't really think about it.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@RaivoKulli Why wouldn't they be? If they sell a thousand cans they've paid a thousand deposits.
If they return a thousand cans they get back their thousand deposits.

The cans, as with R White's lemonade bottles once upon a time, are fungible.

They'll need a tin of pennies.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I don't think you get what I mean. Customer buys from store A and pays them the deposit and returns them to store B who gives the customer the deposit amount. Store A doesn't care, they got the deposit, didn't have to return it to the customer. Store B had to give the deposit amount to customer even though they didn't get the original deposit amount. See how it might be a nuisance to store B? That's why you need some organization for the system.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@RaivoKulli (I don't need to think hard about it, I grew up with it running)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Might want to give it some thought what it took to actually run it. I grew up with bottle and can deposit system but it would be a disservice to not recognize what it took to get it running and what it takes to run it now.