Do You Take Your Bottles to Recycling to Claim Deposits?

[ProudLib72]

I can remember the last time I did that was something like 20 years ago. The strange thing is, I just looked up to see if there were any recycling centers that pay here in Boulder, CO. NOPE! Closest one is in Broomfield, about ten miles away.

So what gives? Is there just very little incentive if the deposit is only 5 cents?

[Xipe Totec]

1. Ain't no such thing in Texas - We just put them in the recycle bin.

In Mass., we did redeem but that's just not possible down here.

[ProudLib72]

2. Ah yes, I forgot to add that the last time I did it was in CT

I was making $5 per haul! Let me tell you, there wasn't any room for anything else but bottles in my apartment.

[Laffy Kat]

3. Now that they pick up the recycle bin in the alley every week.

It's just easier to toss it in there. I used to hear people going through the recycle stuff to salvage the bottles and cans and even that has stopped.

[ProudLib72]

4. When I was about 11, I would go to the construction sites to find cans

My dad would drive me around to look for buildings/houses that were going up. I could fill a trash bag full and get some good money selling them at King Soopers. It seems like all that has disappeared. I haven't seen anyone trying to sell cans or bottles in years. So were the 80s and 90s a time when they incentivized recycling by making it easy to exchange bottles for cash? Maybe it was too much hassle?

[Laffy Kat]

8. I know. Back in my day it was bottles.

Every now and then a group of us kids would walk up and down the side of roads and pick bottles up to return. I remember one summer we did it regularly, and being good little capitalists, we would buy loads of candy with the cash and then set up a neighborhood stand and re-sell our goods at a pretty good mark up. We eventually lost interest but were able to buy tickets for movies over the summer. Beat selling lemonade.

[ProudLib72]

10. The kids in my neighborhood have been setting up slushy stands

They advertise "Free Slushies" knowing very well that the adults in the neighborhood are going to give them healthy "tips." The last one I got cost me $2.25, and it didn't have nearly enough syrup to make it edible!

[Laffy Kat]

12. Very clever.

Once during the Denver People's Fair, the organization I volunteered for gave away cups of ice water with a little slice of lemon and simply asked for donations. We made a killing with almost zero overhead, which is exactly what we could afford, LOL. We lucked out that it was an extremely hot weekend and it didn't rain out for once! We got the most tips from offering bowls of cool water for all the doggos.

[Fla Dem]

5. Just put in recycle for pick-up. No redemption in Fl.

[CurtEastPoint]

6. In metro ATL there are very few places that take bottles. Our city does not (Republic Services)

[hlthe2b]

7. I know of no deposits for anything but milk in glass bottles from Whole Foods.

Then again, I don't drink soft drinks so maybe there are some still for the rare glass bottles?

[ProudLib72]

9. Surely you remember the days when King Soopers and Safeway would take bottle and cans

And then it all went away. It strikes me as very odd. Now we have to pay for recycling to come pick up our bottles and cans.

They pulled the old switcheroo on us!

[Grasswire2]

14. weird

Kroger has a recycling/deposit room at every store, as does Safeway. And there are recycling centers here and there in strip malls.

[ProudLib72]

16. Where do you live?

Yeah, the ones around here used to have that. I didn't even notice when they went away, so I can't be sure exactly how long they've been missing.

[doc03]

28. News to me I have been shopping at Krogers forever and never saw

one or any mention of one.

[Grasswire2]

29. Here in the PNW, it's standard. nt

[Laffy Kat]

15. I don't think it was all that long ago.

They had the scales and you weighed your haul. Do you remember John Breaux? He made all of his money by collecting cans and then he'd give it away to people he felt needed it more. Unfortunately, that was also the cause of his death, as he was hit by a car. He is still mourned here in Lafayette

https://yourboulder.com/boulder-history-john-breaux/

[ProudLib72]

17. I vaguely remember him. I remember stories of him leaving flowers

Do you remember the Buddhist guy who used to walk from Boulder to Rocky Flats every day? I think the story was his parents were killed in Hiroshima. He disappeared, too. For over a decade he was a familiar sight, and now he's gone. Every time I drive down 93, I remember him.

[Laffy Kat]

18. No, I didn't know about the Rocky Flats guy.

Roughly what years did he trek? That's a touching story. I arrived in Colorado in '71, but not Boulder County until 2001.

[ProudLib72]

21. I tried to find an article about him but gave up

He was around in the 80s into the 90s. I'm not sure when he stopped or what happened. You have to realize that I moved to CO in '81 when I was only 9. My sister was going to college at CU, and we were living in Genesee. We drove highway 93 a lot. Then, when I was in high school, I would drive up to go rock climbing. I guess I associate him with my childhood.

[Rhiannon12866]

11. Here in New York we just take them back to the grocery store where we got them

Most stores have machines. You get a slip from the machine and get the money back at the checkout.

[Grasswire2]

13. Deposit is ten cents in my state.

And the answer is yes. Absolutely. I either let a neighborhood kid have them for some pocket change, or leave them in a paper bag on the street for someone to get a little money. That's common in my town. Leave a paper bag of them on the curb.

[handmade34]

19. the transfer station

here has a bin for returnable bottles and cans for the Scouts to turn in for cash

[Wolf Frankula]

20. Yes I do

Die vrou drinks lots of sodash pop in cans. I take them back and get enough for a pint of good beer. Here it's ten cents.

Wolf

[Shrike47]

22. Sure, I take them in to grocery for the deposit, or give them to somebody. 10 cents . (Oregon)

They also charge a deposit on cans of juice (I drink V8) and bottles of juice, t think. College town, lots of cans and bottles to be returned.

[Aristus]

23. We don't get a deposit.

But where I live, there's an interesting incentive to recycle. The local waste management companies charge you to haul away garbage. But they'll pick up your recycling for free.

That offers people a nice incentive to pop their re-usables in the recycle bin instead of the garbage can.

Every week, we put out one droopy little plastic bag of garbage, and then every other week, we roll a full, heavy bin of recyclables to the curb.

[femmedem]

24. No, but I place them on top of the recycling bin so that people who need the deposit can access them

We have several people in my neighborhood who gather shopping carts full of recyclables all day for cash. Most of us put the recyclables with deposits on top, gathered in bags.

[Adsos Letter]

25. Yes, we do.

Glass, and plastic bottles. We separate the glass by color (recycler's rule for refund) and put the glass and plastic bottles into four plastic trash cans at the side of the garage. When they are full (every few weeks) we toss them into the truck, and then we take them to a recycler about ten miles from here; Republic Services, the same people who run the garbage service around here.

The recycler calculates refunds according to weight.

We usually net about $30.00 each time we go.

[ProudLib72]

34. $30 each time you go!

Either they have gone up on the amount they give you, or you are drinking a lot out of bottles and cans.

[doc03]

26. We don't get any deposits in Ohio, the packaging industry

shut that down. Well you can get scrap price for aluminum.

[Siwsan]

27. 10 cents, in Michigan. You just take them to the grocery store and use the machines.

I wait until I have a couple of big bags full. Unfortunately I have to separate the house 'brands' to make sure I'm not lugging Meijer brand soda bottles to Kroger.

[Srkdqltr]

32. I used to give the pop bottles to the grands to take in.

They are too old now so they are piling up in my garage. Have to take them soon. The garage is starting to look like an episode of Horders.

[Siwsan]

33. I always hope for school kids to knock on the door, asking if I have any bottles

They collect them to raise money for projects and I GLADLY hand them over.

[flyingfysh]

30. There are lots of places all around the Boston area to get deposits.

Large grocery stores have machines you can put the bottles or cans in to get your money; actually they print out a slip you take to the customer service desk to get your money. It is all very easy. It adds up.

[Midnight Writer]

31. Recyclers in my area won't accept glass (or magazines) and have signs posted stating so.

[no_hypocrisy]

35. Religiously.

[hunter]

36. I bag them and leave them on the curb. They're gone in hours.

This is California and there's a couple of redemption places within easy walking or bicycling distance from my home.

[rurallib]

37. We have a deposit in Iowa. A local organization collects them and the money

goes to scholarships for kids who might not otherwise go on to college. Raised about $20,000 over the years.

[jpak]

38. Maine was the first state to enact a "Bottle Bill" in 1976

That 5 cent deposit produced and sustained hundreds of jobs in "redemption centers" in our small state and kept the roads clear of discarded cans and bottles.

In the spring after the snow melts, people walk up and down roads scavenging the few bottles/cans and idiots discard.

It works.

PS - I had a girlfriend from South Carolina that visited Maine for the first time and thought we were a "really religious state" because we had so many "redemption centers" - lol

[ProudLib72]

40. Now that's a religions cause I would donate to

[MissB]

39. Yep. There are more containers with the recycling fee associated

So we return them to get the 10 cents/item refund. Most grocery stores around here use a system where you drop off a big bag with a sticker associated with an account. The grocery store I go to bumps that up by 10% or so. Just drop a big bag off, they count it and the next time you go in you cash in the amount. Pretty easy.