#020 Bottle Return

In an effort to promote recycling and reuse, many states in the United States have adopted a bottle bill, or container deposit law (reference: http://www.bottlebill.org/legislation/usa.htm). The state in which I live has a very high bottle return rate (over 96%) which is likely due to the fact that the refund is ten cents per bottle (highest in the country). For my blog, I will refer to any returnable/refundable bottles or cans as just "cans" for the purpose of discussion. Also, soda is called "pop" where I live, so I will also call it that here. (It should be noted that most stores refer to them as "bottle return" areas.)

I’m not sure whether my state consumes and returns more beer cans or more pop cans, but one thing is for sure: people just can’t seem to completely empty the cans before they return them.

In my household, we drink a significant amount of pop, but I would say of all the cans we drink about 35% of them are beer. Typically I hold the responsibility of returning the cans when I do the grocery shopping. However, I only contribute to about 40% of can consumption in my household, so I really only have control over my share of the returnables.

When the person that I live with places their cans in the provided receptacle, they do not often check to make sure the can is completely empty. This results in excess liquid (beer or pop or BOTH) to soak the box or bag in which they have been placed, and also possibly my car. And if that liquid gets on my car, it will likely get on me, too… because by the time I realize I have a mess on my hands, it’s too late since I am the one who will be removing the cans from the box or bag in which they have been placed, therefore risking getting that excess liquid on me yet again when I place them in the bottle return machine.

Often, other people have the same problem. If you’ve ever been to a bottle return center, you know it usually smells like a mixture of beer, pop, piss and vomit, and your shoes usually stick to the floor. How could it possibly get this way? Because people don’t empty their cans before they return them.

What’s so difficult about getting the last few drops out of the can before you put them away to be returned? I’m not asking you to rinse them out (although that would be nice and less sticky), but at least shake the can a few times to make sure it’s all out before you put it away. And if you’re stacking the cans neatly in the box in which they were originally packaged, how about facing them all the same way? That way, if any liquid is still left in there, you can orient the box such that it won’t all spill out and soak the box (and then the car, and then you and/or the floor at the bottle return area).

Also, every bottle return center SHOULD, in my opinion, have a sink with soap and water to wash hands after returning cans. Most places don't have this, and if they do it's usually out of soap, or out of paper towel (or both), or maybe only have hand sanitizer... which will work if that's the only option. Gross.

And what about those people that can't figure out which cans are returnable?? Well, if you paid a deposit on it when it was purchased, you can return it! Also, with company specific cans with deposits (the store's brand), those can only be returned at that store. A good rule of thumb: if the store sells it, the store will accept it's return. Don't take your Kroger-brand cans to other non-Kroger retailers - they won't be accepted! If you accidentally brought some of the wrong cans to return, don't be a dick: either thrown them away or take them with you, don't leave them cluttered next to the machine or on the floor.