That’s what we do. We load up the returnables (which we have squashed) and take them to the center where they are weighed and we’re paid for the weight.
It’s interesting that the state collects a “deposit” on the cans and bottles, but when I return them, I get the recyclable value of the material. I guess the state keeps the original deposits.
I can’t help but wonder if the machines with all the syrup and beer from the cans attract hoards of ants and such. They must be a real mess.
Redeeming bottles and cans has always seemed to me to be way more trouble than it is worth. I just put them out in the curb side recycling.
We have those machines here in MA too, mostly in supermarkets. The law here is that if a store sells anything with a deposit (beer or carbonated beverage), they have to take back the bottles or cans back & refund the deposit too. The machines must be more cost effective than having a full time person counting the bottles, checking to make sure none are from New Hampshire, and returning the money.
The glass bottle machines are the best - it breaks the bottles, so it sounds like a bar fight as you feed them in.
I’m wondering what you could buy with $4.20. 85% of a nickel bag of …something? How much does Thunderbird run these days?
It’s for the booze. You can get a 40 oz bottle of [del]pee[/del] malt liquor for about $2.50. We have our societal leaches come in to our store and do it all the time. Our cashiers are instructed to refuse the sale of more than two cases of water if the person is paying with foodstamps.
Nickle a piece in Oregon. It takes about fifteen minutes to redeem $15 worth of bottles. You’re at the store anyway. Why throw your money out in the trash.
I love feeding the glass machine! Simple things amuse me, I guess…
Ah-ha. Forgot about the 40s. (It’s been illegal to sell single beers in DC for a year or so.)
Depends on your income level. When I was a rat-poor college student with no cash but lots and lots of empty beer cans, it made a lots of sense.
(raises hand)
I do.
We wash out the containers for recycling already, and when I bring back bags full of cans I don’t want to deal with sticky yecchy residue, so I rinse out the soda cans and invert them to drain, along with the other recyclables.
Nothing useful to add to the conversation, but when I scanned this thread title, I misunderstood the question as “What happens if you poured a full can of soda into the coin slot on the can machine?”
Now I want the answer to THAT question. It must come up, especially on pop machines in junior highs…
For my first real job 20 years ago, I worked at a grocery store that had these machines. One of my jobs was to empty them of the crushed cans.
Occasionally some joker would put a full can (or bottle) into the machine. What happens?
It makes a goddam mess is what happens. Nothing like getting covered with week-old rotten soda on a 100+ degree July day :mad:
I’m 32 and have had curbside recycling since I was a kid. We still take the cans back to the store, though. You just put them in the machine and get money for them. It takes almost not time at all.
I didn’t even know you could put soda/beer cans out for curbside recycling. Never occurred to me.
Are you sure about that? Back when I was turning stuff in for recycling in CA, they’d count out the individual cans if you had a few, but they’d weigh it if you had a bunch.
You’d still get 5c per can (the deposit), because they know how much an aluminum can weighs. I’m guessing that a used can is not actually worth as much as 5c in materials.
Me, too. It’s a mystery to me. And I have lived in these states:
Illinois
California
Florida
Louisiana
Maryland
Massachusetts
Virginia
Iowa
Ohio
A mystery.