American Notes THE HOMELESS

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.