Can deposits are a great idea, in my opinion. Why don't more places have them? They give people an incentive to recycle (so they get their deposit back), and if they choose to litter, whoever cleans up after them gets the money.
It would be more straightforward if government paid for cleanup of litter and it becomes a part of the spending budget where the amount of spend can be tracked.
And teach children not to litter and cultivate that sense of responsibility for one’s environment.
And prosecute littering.
If you go to a city with a plastic bag tax, you'll notice that far fewer people are using plastic bags. Cashiers won't automatically drop a single item into a bag, they'll ask if you need them and even when they do, they'll use fewer bags.
The funny thing is, a policy like a 7 cent bag tax is incredibly negligible. That means your big-ass shopping trip with 20 plastic bags is costing you $1.40 if you choose to go that route. You could absolutely choose to do that every time you shop for groceries and it wouldn't affect your finances. But that's the thing, people see a financial incentive, and no matter how small, they take it. Similarly, that's why the can/bottle deposit is so effective.
I read this article recently about giving people a tiny monetary incentive to go to the gym got people to go back:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/08/well/move/exercise-motiva...
Surely, these gym members spent more money on gas to just get themselves to the gym in the first place!
Prosecution of littering is impractical, "it doesn't scale," as one might say. It's nearly impossible to catch that crime as it occurs.
I'm not even sure that "raiding garbage bins" is an issue. I guess sometimes people digging through garbage make a mess, but every time I see this happen in real life the people doing it are relatively respectful and make sure the trash stays in the bin.
Local governments already do pay for the cleanup of litter, but the problem is that litter is just everywhere. It's a losing numbers game. You'd have to hire a literal army to keep it in check.
By the way, can/bottle deposits don't cost the taxpayer money! It's a tax you pay on the drinks when you buy them, and you get it back when you return them. That's why it's called a deposit.
We have a similar deposit where I live (Vancouver), and a few times I've collected all my cans and dropped them off at the deposit center. The centers are in inconvenient areas, and I've dropped off maybe 400 cans, which is a pretty full car load, but takes almost 2 hours with driving and sorting. So about $20/hr not counting expenses like gas, wear and tear, and the car itself (many people doing this do so without a vehicle though).
And these were cans I had collected myself at a place I was living. If you consider going from house to house and checking dumpsters for the cans, it takes a lot more time. If you have a truck and 2 people and manage to grab all the cans on collection day, you might make a bit more than minimum wage, but outside of collection day I think you'd be better off with a minimum wage job.
I suspect a lot of people doing this have other obstacles preventing them from holding a job though, which is why something they can do on their own time is worthwhile to them.
For some more context, I think McDonalds starts at $18/hr here and even that isn't really enough to afford living comfortably in Vancouver. Also, most deposits are 10 cents, but I think some larger glass containers are up to 20 cents.
There was a lot more can litter back then, so it was easier to collect. A side effect of aluminum recycling is that most of that litter was cleaned up by can collectors.
[0] https://portal.311.nyc.gov/article/?kanumber=KA-02477
[1] https://www.scrapmonster.com/scrap-yards/prices/new-york/sta...
How much is that worth? With the deposit, collecting cans can be a fairly lucrative side line for children and the retired - you often see people collecting cans from bus stop trashbins and at music festivals or park events there will often be people going around with large trash offering to dispose of empty beer cans.