Possible solution
EVERY BEVERAGE CONTAINER SHOULD HAVE A DEPOSIT ON IT. I guarantee it would greatly reduce the amount of garbage left on courses, which would make it easier for park personnel and/or volunteers to control the remaining garbage (wrappers and stuff).
I live in Michigan, where there's a 10 cent deposit on all beer and soda containers. A dime doesn't seem like much, but on the courses I play regularly, people come through with big trash bags to pick up returnable containers - and
ONLY returnable containers - even sifting through the trash cans to get them. The lousy dime deposit works!! I see it every round I play, because 99% of the containers on the ground are from drinks you don't have to pay a deposit for: water bottles, ice tea, Gatorade, Propel, etc.
I only see a few beer or soda cans, and they'll get picked up when the next person comes to fill up their bag – and they don't even play the game. It's strictly for the money – they just go where the pickins' are good. I bet they also hit boat ramps and other places where people drink.
I wish they'd put a deposit on everything, but the retailers who have to accept that stuff back say it costs them money: for store personnel to handle the containers and refunds, or the collection machines, as well as temporary in store storage (which, in theory, could be put to more profitable use than container storage) until they can be picked up for recycling – all valid points. That's why they don't want to expand it to other types beverages. But we have to find ways to do better, and the bottom line is a small deposit on containers works – those containers get recycled, not left on the courses. IMO the fact that someone may be doing it for profit only makes it a win win.
I used to think "Our society will become 'green' when it becomes economically feasible." Not true. With a few exceptions here and there, our society won't become "green" until it's simply too painful (economically) not to.
