Glass Recycling

03/01/2004 English German

Edition # 49
San Francisco, 03-01-2004

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Glass Recycling

Michael In America, just like in Germany, you pay a deposit on glass and even some plastic bottles at the store. However, no one would think of bringing the empties back to the store to get the money back. Instead, people throw the bottles into a blue bin, put it out on the street on a specific day of the week for the municipal glass collector, and forgo the money.

This is a phenomenon in America: It's considered uncool to worry about cents or small dollar amounts. Although there is the saying "A penny saved is a penny earned," almost everyone throws their coins into the next beggar's cup. Only old grandmas with small pensions rummage through their wallets at the checkout to use the annoying small change to pay odd amounts. Young people pull bills out of their pockets and immediately deposit any coins in the "tip jar," a container often placed at the register in coffee shops and small stores--even though such places don't actually provide services that require tipping.

The copper cents are absolutely disliked by everyone -- even beggars. For this reason, there is sometimes a so-called "Give a Penny, Take a Penny" box at store checkouts. When you receive pennies as change, you toss them in there, and if you owe an amount like "Ten dollars and 3 cents," you simply give the cashier a ten-dollar bill, and they take the 3 cents from the penny box. Exceptions are the large supermarket and fast-food chains: At McDonald's or Safeway, everything is accounted for precisely, and no one accepts tips. The uniforms of McDonald's employees have no pockets for a reason.

Figure [1]: Homeless person with a shopping cart and bottles

But back to glass recycling: Bottles and cans placed in the blue crates on the sidewalk are often picked up by resourceful homeless people, who roll through the streets with supermarket shopping carts packed to the brim and loaded with empties (Figure 1). They wheel the loot to the return machines located at some supermarkets and receive a few cents for each can or bottle. By the way, the amount of the refund depends on the state. In Michigan, oddly enough, you get a bit more than elsewhere. In an episode of the comedy show "Seinfeld," two of the characters try to drive a whole van full of recyclables from New York to Michigan because of this.

Figure [2]: Deposit information on a beer bottle.

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