A few things came together recently. One is that my company did some work for OBRC, and I learned of the existence of the Green Bag program. The second is that the bottle deposit rate went from five cents to ten cents. (Since 1971, if it had kept up with inflation, it would be around $0.25 now). Plus, Matt started drinking Propel, which is water with something in it. Also, my company started providing bottled kobucha for its employees. That also has a bottle deposit on it.*
Thus, I started looking at five kombucha bottles in the work recycling bin and thinking, “That’s like fifty cents. That’s real money.” In junior high, when we were introduced to the magic of vending machines (also known as: FuSESKiJuK Funding School “Extras” by Selling Kids Junk Food) candy bars were fifty cents and thus forever more fifty cents will always be my “real money” threshold.
There’s a lot not to like about redeeming bottles. For me, the number one thing is the smell. I’m not a hugely smell-sensitive person, but the combination of elderly beer/soda dregs really turns my stomach. Plus, there’s the time it takes to actually redeeming, which is another step in my very full days.
Happily, the Green Bag Program exists. For this program, you visit a BottleDrop center, open an account, and purchase 15 bags for $1.50. Then, you fill them and drop them off at any BottleDrop center. You don’t even have to go inside. They have an outside drop place that can be accessed before and after hours by using your card. Then, employees at the center redeem the bottles and cans for you and credit your account. This costs $0.25. So for $0.40 (four bottles) I can avoid most of the problems I have with redeeming. Plus, if you cash in your credit at specific stores (Fred Meyer is one) you get $0.12 per bottle and not $0.10.
I’m excited about this program, especially because I’m collecting bottle redemptions on items I haven’t paid the deposit on. It’s free money for me!
*It turns out that kombucha has been ruled “juice” and thus should not have a deposit on it.** I’ll keep collecting those bottles until the label changes and I can’t redeem them any longer.
**The weirdness of what does and does not have a bottle deposit bugs me.