My bottle return story

LOL nice.
What is funny is I wonder how many of us get a laugh with this. I always can tell what neighbors are drinkers just by the sound, lol.
Cheers

 

We have the "Big Blue Rolling Bin" that goes out to the curb every two weeks for pick up by the town. I put all my deposits into it. There is a nice old guy who comes around and collects all the returnables and uses them to supplement his retirement. Guy couldn't be nicer and I am happy to help him out in that little way. Around our street he is known as 'The Can Man".
Whenever I do run into him he always says 'You drink the best beers on the street" haha I'll take it.....

 

Honestly, I've been a little jealous of deposit states for a while, but I suppose I'll keep my current system after reading this thread. It is nice just dumping a bucket or two of bottles and cans into their respective bins and then being on my way.

I do remember taking bags of aluminum cans once or twice a year to an aluminum recycling site as a kid. It was generally enough to buy three candy bars, one for each kid, or barely cover the cost of gas to get there and back.

 

I don't return bottles but that guy sounds like a disgruntled retail worker

 

Speaking as a pissed off old dude myself, all we really want is to be respected, and the way we like to be respected is by you doing what we tell you to. We've lived a long time and sometimes it hurts when we pee. Don't make trouble for us.

Anyway, as @jhavs noted, we don't have that new-fangled, hippy-commie deposit nonsense here in the Live Free or Die or state. I do have curbside recycling but I have to pay for it myself, because New Hampshire, right? I used to crush all my cans so they'd fit in the bin but now I like to heap all my empty whalez in neat, orderly rows with the labels facing out so my neighbors can read them when they walk their dogs. Then I bang on the window and yell at them to get the fuck off my lawn.

 

I'm going to make a pretty big (although I think fair) assumption and say you've never lived in a REALLY rural area.

You saying you'd do it either way sounds like you are choosing which bin to put it in before rolling them both down to the end of the driveway. If you are asking someone to separate them and then put a potentially stinky, definitely sticky, bag of empties in their vehicle and then drive them to town, encountering a long line if you, like everyone else, is doing this on Saturday morning... you can see why people don't recycle. It also explains burning trash.

If you are in a somewhat urban area it is my understanding that it doesn't ~really~ matter whether you pull out the recycling or not. The waste disposal companies are pulling out anything valuable anyways. You are just making more work for them.

 

The point at which I could no longer walk into a store with a case of empties and simply throw it on a counter to get my money back was the point at which I stopped redeeming my empties. Feeding one by one into the machines and having a sizable number get rejected while you smell stale beer isn’t worth it. Everything just goes in the recycle bin now.

I agree completely that it is just a way for the state to skim some money at this point. There was actually a ballot question a few years ago to expand deposits to all beverage containers, which thankfully was defeated.

 

Me too!! This thread may one day save my life.

 

I used to try and bring my empties back to the store for a refund but the machine doesn't take them....I just leave them out on Fridays with my other recyclables....

 

Same for me. We got a nice sized purple Ripple container when they started collecting in my area, and I drop off a load-o-glass beer bottles every couple of months. Really cool program by Boulevard.

Stinks that your local bin is going away.

 

We toss all bottles and cans into a bucket and they go to the curb.

While vacationing in the Adirondacks recycle was such a pain in the ass that I just left all my cans and bottles by the machine. Having never used these recycle machines before and not getting any containers to actually not get tossed back at us we asked a worker about the machines and we were yelled at pretty much like the OP. It was not worth my effort to regain $5 or so dollars.
One other vacation to maybe the Catskills?, we had to take all recycle to a recycle center and it was sorted and we were paid. Very easy. The odd thing was we were handed back a few 750 formats and were told no wine bottles. I said just take them and recycle them I don’t need the few cents but they would not take them. I tossed them in their trash.

Enjoy

 

Your presumption is accurate. For the most part I have lived in suburbia (with the exception of Boston) but in Arizona I lived in the outskirts of Tucson where it was mostly rural. Anyway, I’m not sure I’m getting your point. I guess to clarify what I’m saying is that I’d either separate them into the recycling bin for pickup or alternatively pack the paper, glass, aluminum into my truck and drive them to the dump. It really depends on the municipality.

My overall point is that the 10 cent or 5 cent deposit redemption does not affect my motivation to recycle.

 

Maybe the rest of us thought that the beer would be an antidote.

 

Ahem, real Michiganders pronounce it Meijers.

And I haven't had to do bottle returns lately since I've been recycling them for homebrews. It's nice to only have to deal with hauling around cans and not glass. TIP: Bell's labels come off the easiest.

 

Here in Oregon, it's now 10 cents for everything, beer bottles, cans, gatorade, water bottles, ect.
I have say since the switch most people I know, myself included, now take back their recycling, it adds up. If you don't want to deal with just it put it by the curb and someone else will happily take them off your hands quickly. They also have actual recycling centers (no more machines at grocery stores) you can sign up for where they give you bags to fill, you drop them off anytime and within a day or two your account is credited with however much you dropped off. Makes it real easy, I always hated those machines.

 

Deposit laws help, but littering alongside trails or anywhere for that matter,just means that whoever did it is a lazy asshole.

 

You must be between 38-41 years old......