Many unhappy returns

In my state, whenever you buy a bottle or can containing beer, soda or water, you are charged a refundable five cent deposit. Ostensibly, this is to encourage recycling and to avoid having these containers tossed in the trash and ending up in a landfill. Although the nickel deposit per container adds to the cost at the time of purchase, you get the deposit money back when you redeem the empty containers. This is usually done by inserting the empty bottle or can into a redemption machine which counts your items and prints out a credit slip. The machines are usually located in, or just outside, supermarkets or other large beverage retailers.

Many bottles and cans of beer, soda and water are sold individually at local delis or convenience stores, but these establishments aren’t equipped to handle returns. And the consumers who frequent these stores don’t want to carry the empties around all day, so they simply consider the extra nickel as a “tax” and toss the container in the trash. I’m not sure who gets the benefit of this unredeemed five cent deposit, but it’s the consumer who loses out.

As a proponent of recycling, I do my part by returning the empties. In the process, I get my money back. But that’s where the frustration comes in.

It’s time consuming to collect, store and return the empty containers. I have space in my garage to collect and store them, but it’s the returning part of the process that irritates me.

Many times, the redemption machines are being used by people with Santa Claus-like sacks of empties. When that’s not the case, the machines are usually full, or worse, out of order. I try to vary the times I use the machines, but invariably, I encounter people with large amounts of returns.

The aluminum can (I also get frustrated when I hear people refer to them as “tin” cans) redemption machines usually work properly, as long as the bar codes on the returns are clean and readable. The glass redemption machines work pretty well, too. It’s the plastic bottle machines that drive me up a wall. Because of the differing shapes of the plastic bottles, the machines sometimes have a difficult time reading the bar code, resulting in rejection of the product. This requires re-insertion, sometimes, over and over again. Funny how the scanners never have a problem reading the bar codes when you purchase the item.

So, rather than keep my frustration bottled up, I thought I’d write this little piece.