I highly doubt this is correct. I fell off the wagon late last year and I got to the point I was drinking Fireball shooters, half-pints, and pints daily. I used to make fun of the stuff, but I started drinking it because it was cheap, it was ubiquitous, and it went down easy. I actually don’t even think the cinnamon taste is bad at all–remember all those cinnamon flavored hard candies and Big Red chewing gum when we were kids? I guess it left my breath better smelling than drinking gin (my usual drink of choice when I went on a binge), so perhaps it was more difficult to tell if I was drinking, but I couldn’t tell, as nobody (meaning, my wife) was the wiser that I was drinking again. So, hey, maybe it did do its job. But that tell-tale scent of cinnamon I think would be a dead giveaway and easier to detect than even alcohol.
It’s just a faddy drink, like Jaeger was (and mentioned–and a drink I unironically enjoy[ed].) Years back when I still had my drinking somewhat under control, many people around me, especially the more “fratty” types, drank Fireball like water. It was at every party. Not a single one of them smoked pot. It’s just relatively cheap, really sweet, easy to get down (at least for a lot of people), and packs a punch. It’s as simple as that. There doesn’t need to be any more complicated a reason.
One factor here is likely the fact that there often is no “garbage”, at least not in the sense of “a publicly provided, appropriate receptacle for one’s debris”. There is a trend toward removing them, partly to save the expense of emptying and maintaining them. This is only one example, but if you google about this you’ll see it’s happening in various cities around the world.
Yet that isn’t an issue in Japan. Good luck finding a public trash receptacle and also good luck finding discarded Fireball bottles and plastic toothpicks (or trash of any sort).
I’ve wondered about finding used nicotine patches. ZYN makes these ones. Another abatement employee at work said they left permanent adhesive residue when left behind, on glass surfaces it seems. I haven’t yet noticed them but was curious if other people had seen them often yet.
I appreciate your response. From the start, I thought ZYN were dip cans. Then I saw the little packets from far away, thinking they were big moisture packets from bottles of vitamins. I was wrong on both counts.
As you wrote about the mini-bottles, they are easy to grab and, as you said, turn them in too. It’s an easy way to get a buck back.
My suburb, I worry more about abandoned syringe needles. Granted, I have only ever found a handful… if that is the correct term.
Alcohol bottles are not very common - although they do occur - because there is value in glass recycling. Homeless people clean the streets for anything of value. Most beer bottles have a deposit, so there is extra value there, just broken bottles or glass can be sold to recycling places.
I take my own recycling to a charity that is partners with a home for developmentally challenged adults, who sort it and sell it.
Surely you have noticed miniature plastic bottles of Fireball Whiskey, presumably to avoid wasting glass on them?
How does that joke go? Which of the following will you not find on the beach: (a) syringe (b) condom (c) crack pipe ? A: no one would throw away a perfectly good crack pipe
I don’t even know what Fireball Whiskey is. Different country, different continent.
I assume some sort of “easy to purchase by underage kids” style drink.
When I buy - which is rare - Laphroaig Single Malt is my choice. I discard the glass bottle into recycling after decanting into a camping water-bottle, to make it lighter and safer for a days-long hike.
Other than that, while litter can be a problem, I very rarely see anything that cannot be recycled or reused in some way. The homeless ensure anything of value is gone, our town council handles the rest.
Edit: I see I could buy it (in glass full size bottles) here. Not sure if I can be bothered.
ZYNs aren’t patches, though (unless they also happen to make those.) They are little pouches, similar to Scandinavian snus (but without actual tobacco. Though there is a style of snus called “white snus” that is essentially this), that are placed between the gums and upper lip.
We get that here. Back when I was a barman, I was told by my bar manager to card anyone ordering either Southern Comfort or Malibu (a sweet coconut flavoured white rum).
Drinking age is 18 here, but both are a sure sign of a teenage girl trying her luck.
