A program for recycling non-winning lottery tickets is paying off big for Westboro, Mass.-based recycler E.L. Harvey & Sons and the Massachusetts State Lottery.
"Instant Re-Play," the lottery's anti-litter program that rewards individuals that collect and recycle non-winning instant or scratch tickets, has yielded 50 tons of tickets.
The recycled tickets are converted into paper goods, such as tissue, toilet paper and napkins, according to Ellen Harvey, executive vice president of E.L. Harvey & Sons, which is helping to collect and recycle the tickets.
"The program is just getting started," she says. "The number of tickets we've collected has grown each time we've organized a collection, and we expect it to continue growing as word continues to spread."
An Earth Day collection on the Esplanade in Boston yielded eight tons of instant tickets in just five hours, while a June 28 collection at lottery headquarters in Braintree, Mass., resulted in the collection of 16 tons in five hours, according to a release from E.L. Harvey & Sons.
The next collection is schedule for July 25-27 at the Barnstable Fair.
"This is a win/win situation," says Harvey. "Litter is being removed from the environment and from the waste stream. [The tickets] are not being treated as waste and discarded — they are being recycled. This is a great process and a great project."
OK, isn't this whole program what started the problem with Julie Sprive and the $4 million ticket fiasco, which, by the way, she SHOULD be entitled to? Hasn't someone learned their lesson yet and seen that this might be a BAD idea? It's good for the environment, yes, but not in other ways, and someone might just sue the company doing this work claiming "I threw out a whole stack of winners" and they cashed them in on their behalf, but just didn't decide to tell anyone.
you never know.......
i personally love this program. it has cut down on trash i have to pick up every day in front of my place of work.
The $4 million would have been annuity-only.
The $4 million would have been annuity-only.
OK, even though it would have been an annuity (which, I personally, would take, sorry Cash
), it still doesn't change the fact that someone might sue another person or company claiming "wrongful possession" of the tickets (even though they are BEARER INSTRUMENTS) and would still lead us to the fact that people need to CHECK THEIR TICKETS FULLY BEFORE THROWING THEM AWAY OR RECYCLING THEM!!
BTW, I also think this is a good program, just as long as no one is sued for it.
NCL..there are a few flaws with your reasoning to being against this project.#1. Those who throw away a winning without having it scanned at one of the retail outlets is absurd...ask for a printout, even if you don't trust the store person and I know it will evenually happen, that some idiot throws away a $200 million ticket, but tough luck Charley...some brain cells DO have to be functioning after all...and then #2 do you really think that some one is going to sift thru TONS of tickets????...crazy.......
Thowing away the winning tickets saves the state from having to pay out on them. No wonder they think the program is successfull.
NCL..there are a few flaws with your reasoning to being against this project.#1. Those who throw away a winning without having it scanned at one of the retail outlets is absurd...ask for a printout, even if you don't trust the store person and I know it will evenually happen, that some idiot throws away a $200 million ticket, but tough luck Charley...some brain cells DO have to be functioning after all...and then #2 do you really think that some one is going to sift thru TONS of tickets????...crazy.......
You never know... There are people out there who will do ANYTHINGto get a little (or a lot of) extra cash in their pocket...
1. There are people who buy tickets, and without even thinking about second-guessing themselves, throw it away and do not believe it is a winner... case in point: I've myself found about $250 in winning lottery tickets that people have carelessly thrown on the ground, and some were so clearly a winner that it was hard to believe someone threw it out. This has even happened RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY FACE- Walking to my car, someone threw a "losing" ticket on the ground. I was nice enough to return the $100 winner that the person THREW AWAY.. he gave me a $10 reward
.
2. Even if it's only a few hundred tickets... someone's got the extra time. Breaks, lunches, smoke breaks... plenty of time to sift through any number of tickets.
And I never said I was against it... I just said it was a bad idea. I am for any program that helps the environment, but I think it should be done in a better fashion (Don't ask for ideas, I don't have any, yet).
Thowing away the winning tickets saves the state from having to pay out on them. No wonder they think the program is successfull.
Thowing away the winning tickets saves the state from having to pay out on them. No wonder they think the program is successfull.
sad but true.....
A good lottery story about MA for a change.
true....