My bottle return story

Thanks for this thread Lahey, been thinking of starting one of these myself for a while being a somewhat recent MI transplant and having this bottle return thing driving me insane since I've been here. My Meijer is constantly rejecting stuff I bought from them but luckily no one ever gives me crap when I take them up to the service counter inside. I'd just recycle them like I did in my old state but I drink enough that I generally get a free six pack for two when I take them in every couple months and that's better than nothing...

I am ignorant of how the whole system is set up and works but I just wish there was a way to have a statewide database that every one of those damn machines could upload on a regular basis and everyone could just take everything and get their money for the trouble however it works...frustrates the shit out of me.

 

superglue the wound together. I did that one time I sliced my finger open on a glass too late to go to the doctor. It healed quickly with no infection (and my glass was freshly washed) I also rused alcohol wipes.

 

A plumber told me that trick- very handy for the tradesmen to always have super glue with them.

 

This thread really makes me appreciate the california system. We probably don't currently get our deposit back on glass bottles but I'd bet I'm winning on cans. I took two fairly full standard trash cans of mostly crushed cans along with a half can of bottles back the other day and got 31$ back. Doesn't matter if the glass is broken or the labels are gone, doesn't matter if the cans are crushed. We can recycle all recyclables through the trash haulers but if you take returnables in to a dump they pay a market determined price for various materials. Usually aluminum pays well, glass poorly, and plastic can mostly just be dumped for free, although if you are fastidious some of the plastics will pay.
My recycling system consists of trashcans that sit out my back door that I toss cans and bottles in. When they fill up I take them to the dump and get money. Then I go spend that money on beer and feel like a wealthy genius. It's awesome

 

They are. The machines will send an error code to Tomra if there is an operating issue and the tech will come out if I want them to or not. The reason they aren't plugged into any statewide database is that it would go against the law that states stores only have to accept what they sell. Also, not every beer is distributed state wide in MI. For example: we can't get Thirsty Dog or Cellar Brewing on our side of the state, but you can in GR. If I was forced to take empties from those two breweries, I would have no distributors to send them to and receive credit from. What would I do with HOMES cans and other breweries who don't distribute but package for off premise? I would lose a lot of money annually if I had to just "eat" empties I can't get credit for. I'm sure there is an answer but I'm also sure it could complicate things further and eat up more tax dollars.

 

Are there no deposit centers that take any and all without needing to use machines? We have them here, if you use their bags and do correct counts it is in and out, and they take all distributed deposit containers. I would use, but it's almost as convenient here at beverage stores. Wow hard to believe NY has something better than other states.

 

I donate all my returnables to our local boy scout troop that have a program for deposit containers. I'm not rich, but when I add the value of my time and possible experiences like the OP, I figure its well worth the cash loss to just drive by the drop off (not out my way) and throw the unsorted bag in the bin. Simplifying your life sometimes costs a little bit.
Ten years ago when my kids were still in the scouts and craft beer was not as prominent, my boys would come back from "returnables day" saying how the troop could tell which bags were mine with all the "weird" beers in it.

 

Well then, pick them up and haul them out - that's what I always do. Mrs. Lizard won't go on neighborhood walks with me anymore because she's embarrassed by me when I pick up trash and haul it home.

 

Probably not the story you Michiganers want to hear, but...

Each year Mrs. Lizard and I spend three or four weeks traveling around Michigan - it's almost as nice in the summer as Texas. I end up spending a couple of hundred dollars on beer which gets (mostly) hauled home to PA, so kiss the 10 cent bottle deposit goodbye. Several years ago I began saving all my glass and aluminum 12 and 16 ozers and hauling them back to MI on our trips there. Mrs. Lizard is somewhat of a coke-aholic and generates massive quantities of cans.
My average recycling haul from Meijers was about $40/trip MI trip. I learned that Meijers would accept Coke cans (and usually plastic bottles) from anywhere and beer cans and glass bottles from almost all MI breweries. Admittedly, most of the glass beer containers were from Founders so smaller "craft" breweries were not well represented. The plastic and glass that Meijers wouldn't recycle ended up in their trash. Any aluminum cans (Mostly <12) went back home with me to our local recycling, as well as any cans left behind in Meijers carts in the machine center.
For what it's worth, I no longer do this - those 400 cans take up too much room in my garage these days. Now, monthly, I take my sorted recyclables to the local center and get nothing for them but the satisfaction of knowing I'm doing a small bit to erase my track on this planet.

 

I do, but it's frustrating that I have to. I enjoy a walking as much as anybody, but crush the can, and put it in your bag/backpack/pocket!

 

Nope. The closest we have is the local scrap yard that buys aluminum by the pound, lol.

 

This reminds of the Seinfeld episode where they tried to make money off buying cans in one state and getting the higher return in another. Didn't work out too well as I recall, lol.

 

I received an email from our City Recycling Dept. explaining various changes in the end source market for our recycling products. Issue of keeping clean cardboard away from contaminated cardboard and keep those plastic shopping bags out of your bins were part of the update.
But the most interesting and surprising thing was this:

1. Choose aluminum cans over glass bottles.

• With most processors now using mechanical sorting systems, glass has become a casualty.Most glass doesn’t survive the gauntlet of shakers, screens and other processing equipment and ends up as broken cullet which has virtually no monetary value.Often, this broken cullet ends up in landfills.
• Aluminum containers, on the other hand, have always maintained some value and are easily sorted in today’s processing systems.

To be sure when the recycling truck dumps my recycling bin, it can be heard blocks away, lots of glass bottles. This has given me pause to reconsider the bottle/can thing as more breweries are switching to cans, I’m thinking I should too. Or screw it and drink what I damn well please?
Would this cause anyone to reconsider? Are you a steadfast can or bottle drinker?

 

I'm a bit confused as to why broken glass would be a concern and/or considered waste. I would assume very little survives intact en route to the recycling center in the first place, and if it is being melted down for recycling would it not be crushed/ground prior to that anyhow? I have no experience here and am happy to be enlightened, but this just sounded odd.

 

Unless I'm going somewhere that does not allow glass I don't care one way or another.

 

Mixed recycling that can't handle glass is stupid.

Oops... sorry for the redundancy.

 

Glass recycling is limited where I live, with some municipalities not even picking it up. I also find it easier to rinse and then crush cans for storage in the recycling bin, meaning I have to drive out to the recycle center less when consuming from cans vs. glass. All that said, I'll still purchase from bottles if given the choice between bottles and cans.

Also, a thread mid-last year highlighted that Massachusetts only glass recycling plant shut down, perhaps it's inductive of what is to come in the following years.