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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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time
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060589
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06058900.032
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1990-09-17
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NATION, Page 49American NotesTHE HOMELESSBattle of The Bottle
For many homeless people, collecting the deposits on empty
beverage containers is not a nickel-and-dime affair -- it's a
living. Some redeem 400 or more cans each day, enough to pay for
a meal and a night in a flophouse. Last week attorneys for the
homeless filed a lawsuit in New York, one of nine states that
require deposits, alleging that some of the state's largest
supermarket chains have been breaking the law to discourage the
scavengers.
Lawyers for the Legal Action Center for the Homeless claim that
though the law requires stores to take up to 240 returns a day per
customer, some refuse to accept more than ten. The suit alleges
that grocers have given in to pressure from beverage bottlers and
distributors not to accept the containers so that the distributors
can keep unclaimed deposits, which last year totaled nearly $80
million. Bottlers say supermarkets don't want to hassle with
returns.