Service with a Smile?

I saw this recycle bin last week and it made me... smile. :)



But what made me smile even more is my biggest haul of the project so far. Literally, a haul. (And this is after last week's haul of aluminum cans and glass bottles.


This minivan full of plastic bottles (mostly) and a few cans rendered me with $44.00! Not bad for a couple hours of work. I recycled $38 worth of plastic. (At a nickel piece it'll be just over 760 bottles and 120 cans.) Just enough so that I had to fill all the seats with recyclable trash. I'm very glad that I live just a few blocks away from the recycling center since I only had one mirror that I could see out of and didn't want a ticket! So, this month's worth of cans, thank you to my brother Jordan, my friends Katherine and Mike, Ian and Deborah, Wes and Sam, and all of those friends who came with our family to the beach and of course to my husband who helps retrieve these bottles from far off subterranean garages, thank you! Hopefully, when my kids go to college, it will be completely paid for!

Thank you all!
Last week: $16.75 = 335 bottles and cans
This week: $44.00 = 880 bottles and cans.
Grand total: 10,738 bottles and cans and $536.93

Now I have some car cleaning to do!

108 Days - The battle for cans rages on.

Yes, it's been 108 days, nearly a third of a year since I blogged last. Not the *best* way to keep up readership, I suppose.

Since my last post, much has happened. The first being, I got back my job. Yes, the same job I had before. I work for the company that blew me off and didn't willingly contact me for over a year. Doesn't sound like a bad boyfriend at all, does it? Anyway, I am back at work and had a huge project that had me working 6-7 days a week and sometimes 15 hours a day for over a month. So, that's why (excuses, excuses) I didn't post for a long time. However, I had time in May. I even had time in June. So, why didn't I post? I don't know. I've still been collecting my cans and bottles and recycling them. I have a complete stranger in Pasadena who contacts me when her bin is full. I also have some friends who will soon be moving to Canada who regularly contact me to come pick up their bin full of beer bottles. (Images of "Strange Brew" are coming into my head. Just joking, W&S.)

I don't know. How interesting can I make an update on my trash? I've been collecting approximately $25-$30 worth of recyclables every month, which is a great little fund for my kids. But it's not going to reach that 5 million can mark anytime soon. How do I enlarge what I'm doing to really make that mark? I've tried putting up bins at weekend craft fairs and festivals, with the sad realization that many people don't watch what they're doing and just put trash in recycling bins and recycling in trash bins, no matter what.

Also, with being back to work, the only time I can really deposit my cans are Saturdays, since now plastic bottles are no longer fully refundable. Yes, did you know that? You pay your 5-10 cents a bottle every time you make a purchase and the state of California, or the recycling center (not sure which) isn't required to give you the full refund unless you bring them in amounts of 50 bottles or less. If you bring in 50 or more, they can pay you by weight, which turns out to be much less. About 3 1/2 cents a bottle instead of 5, so 70% of what you pay into the system. And it's not that great for people like me who, at a goal of 5 million cans, don't want to bring them in 50 at a time. Especially when I can only drop them off on Saturdays, especially if I'm working on a Saturday or want to, you know, spend time with the people I'm collecting cans FOR.

(The following used to be the norm. Now, apparently, it is the exception. More and more places are paying by weight instead of fairly paying back the money we are charged when we purchase a bottled or canned beverage.)

Did you know there’s a way to get your beverage container recycling refunds on a per-container basis instead of by weight?

That’s right, California law allows you the option of being paid based on count instead of weight for up to 50 empty beverage containers of each material type.

This means you can bring up to 50 aluminum, 50 glass, 50 plastic and 50 bi-metal California Redemption Value containers in a single visit and request to be paid by count.

Consumers can also make more than one visit per day to a recycling center and be paid by count on each visit. Recycling centers are required to comply with this rule, found in the California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Chapter 5, Section 2535(b).

Any consumer who has been denied this right by a recycling center can file a complaint by emailing CalRecycle or by calling 1-800-RECYCLE.

http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/bevcontainer/

Since this makes it a bit harder to actually tally how many bottles and cans I've recycled, my count will be slightly inaccurate. I will need MORE than five million cans if I'm going to reach my monetary goal. However, I can't complain too much, because after all, I'd still recycle even if I got paid nothing, and there are plenty of states that don't give any kind of refund for recycling. Yet, it somehow seems unfair that we are a: paying for the privilege of purchasing a bottle or can b: make the choice to return the entire bottle or can minus the beverage, and we don't even get a few pennies for our troubles. Seems like they're trying to make it less and less desirable to go get our refund, doesn't it?

Anyway, I will still approximate 5 cents per can and bottle for my can count, even though it is no longer accurate. The monetary count will be.

April 16, 2011 - $28.00
May 14, 2011 - $29.76
June 11, 2011 - $23.67

GRAND DOLLAR TOTAL: $476.18
Approximate can/bottles recycled: 9,523

Purely Plants?

Here at the Five Million Can Project, recycling for money for my kids' education is not the only "green" thing we do. I also compost, meaning every piece of food that is not eaten is put into our compost bin. I don't enjoy watching food rot in the mini bin I have next to the sink (pee-ew) but it's kinda cool to dump it, cover it with a shovel, and come back a week or two later to find really dark soil. I also grow basil and am trying to grow blueberries. Trying, basically, NOT to kill the blueberry bush/plant that my friend gave me.

Growing the basil saves me $$ so I don't have to spend $3 or $4 every time I want some fresh stuff, and also saves the huge plastic container it comes in.

But bottles are an easy way that I can see what I'm doing. (Espcially when I keep count.)

But maybe one day, we won't have to recycle. Maybe we'll have fully biodegradable bottles and cans. Pepsi is already making a plant-based bottle, from things like the potato scraps, orange peels and banana peels some people put in their composter.

Check it out here:
http://www.comcast.net/articles/finance/20110315/US.PepsiCo.Plant.Bottle

But until then, I will keep my recycling up, even if it's just grabbing bottles from my friends. (Thank you, Miriam and Jordan.)

The past couple of weeks, I've reclaimed $5.75 and $3.55 worth of recyclables. This is $9.30 and 186 more, for a GRAND TOTAL of $394.75 and 7,895 cans! Think if this had just gone down the drain, being wasted. And think of the good that can come from a little bit of effort. Will you donate your cans to someone?

Slowing down?

Well, things may be slowing down a little. I still am not using bottles or cans unless I can help it. (i.e. Soda) But I'm still collecting cans when I can. Get it? Ha, ha. This past week I had a donater (thanks Sam and Wes) fill up their recycling box provided to them by bottlesandcans.com. I came for a pick up and recycled them for another $5.65-- saving 113 cans. Okay, in this case I think it was 113 beer bottles! (Built up over time.)

And before that, there was $6.85 from saving up our own cans from birthday parties and such, and I believe a donation from another friend. So, there's another 137 cans saved.

So, that brings our total to $385.45 and 7,709 cans total.

But there's still a small bag of recycling sitting by my back door and every time I go somewhere-- a walk with the dog, a stop at the gas station, the playground, there is always a discarded bottle or can waiting for someone to pick it up, or waiting to be blown and swept into the ocean. What will happen to it? Who knows?

Beer Can Furniture

Right before we went on vacation--(Yes, we actually left the state to visit my mother-in-law and sister-in-law.) I took a big load of recycling to our Re Planet recycling station and got $16.95. This means I recycled 339 cans! Thank you to Mashelle and Chris who donated their recycling to us after the poker game.

This brings our GRAND TOTAL of cans/bottles recycled to 7,459. ($372.95)

While on vacation, we went to the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum in Orlando. While there were a few sights I could've done without-- the guy whose snake goes up his nose and out his mouth, the lady with plates in her lips, the man tattooed like a snake-- there was a room full of "stuff made from other stuff". There were underwear and purses made from cigarette (ew) and gum wrappers, a life-sized model of a Rolls Royce made from match sticks, and this: Doll Furniture made from beer cans. I don't know if I'd let my kids play with toys made from beer cans, but it's an interesting way to reuse materials!

Still at it!

Over the holidays, I may not have been posting (bad Can Mom) but I never stopped recycling. (Unlike these people -- "The Free Market", Kevin Donohue, a Texan and football/tech blogger. These people proffer up the ideas that "we should pay other people to recycle our stuff for us." (Okay, fine.) And they also pooh-pooh the idea that person by person, can by can, bottle by bottle will make a difference. I say that every person can make a difference. We can make a difference by the things we buy (or don't buy.) This is known as voting with your wallet. How many people have bought a cloth bag recently? And if you actually use them, it makes an environmental difference!

I'd like to thank Ariana, a complete strange who made a difference to me yesterday. Having posted on Craigslist that she had some recycling that she didn't want to take to the recycle center herself, but wanted to give to someone who might need it, she read my blog. (Hi, Ariana.) And while in the area, we stopped by her house and got a large bin full of recycling. (I think Ariana and her friends had a good New Year's Eve.) But between my parents visiting and drinking 2 liters of soda daily, my own Christmas Eve and New Year's parties, and Ariana, we saved another 225 bottles and cans. (Over the past month, I've also picked up about 498 cans from my husband's office party and 394 from friends and various "found treasures.") So, in December
we found and rescued a total of 1,117 more cans!

OUR TOTAL IS UP TO 7,120 CANS AND BOTTLES!
(and that makes $356)

Anyway, thanks Strangers, thanks friends, and thanks to all those who recycle, reuse or donate the things you use, from my kids in their favorite recyclable present received this Christmas:

Tooooooo long!

Yes, it is now December. December! I apologize for my lack of Novemberite posting. I have still been recycling, of course.

I found the "aluminum mine" that is Kathryn's garage. I need to go back for another pick up tomorrow. (It's not quite a gold mine.) The preschool is still recycling, although their recycling bin was damaged due to rain and ants and spilled sticky juice, apparently. Friends with Thanksgiving parties have donated their bottles and cans-- Thanks, Sam and Wes.

Since my last posting, I've gone several times to the recycling center-- sometimes to be attacked by bees, sometimes not-- and we've gotten $14.00, (280 cans/bottles) $6.00 (120 cans/bottles) and $10.35 (207 cans and bottles). So, 607 cans and bottles recycled in November, which brings our GRAND TOTAL to: 6,003 cans and bottles rescued, and $300.15!

So, I started this blog back in March. I must admit, I assumed that this would be something that would take off like a rocket. But, I also must admit, I could be working harder on this. We're coming up on the new year soon. I would never have thought I would still be at home with the kids right now. I love it, but wish I could be bringing in more money than through recycling. But time goes on, faster than we realize.

And as time goes on, we use a bottle here, a bottle there. A friend of mine comments on how when her daughter comes to visit, the plastic bottles really pile up as she drinks several bottles of water a day. I hate to say, "Like sand through the hourglass, these are the days of our lives" but these are not grains of sand. Bottles are made of oil, right? Petroleum? That's what I want wrapped around MY beverage! At least glass actually IS sand-- not that I love drinking sand either. :) But it all adds up, for good or for bad, for recycling, nickel by nickel or bottle by bottle, oil drop by oil drop, plastic bag floating in the ocean until they make a "plastic soup" killing fish, ocean animals, birds, and well, it isn't helping us much either.



So, do your part with cleaning up. It might be easier if we just didn't make the mess at all. (God, I'm starting to sound like my mother.)