When my friends and I went to Vermont we noticed that some of the bottles that we were drinking from had bottle refunds on them for recycling in Vermont. Being mostly Pennsylvania and New Jersey natives we weren’t used to being able to do this. We were quickly overcome with the idea of being able to recycle for some cash even if that was only a dollar or two.
We took off to our trash bags to see what we could find. A 10 cent bottle here, a 5 cent bottle there, and suddenly we had a little pile. Then we realized something important; we had absolutely no idea what to do or where to start. We Googled things like “how to recycle for cash,” "recycling in Vermont," and so many other terms that just didn't give us the information that we needed.
What states give money for bottles?
Unfortunately, not every state will give you money for recycling your bottles (yet). The only states that will give consumers money for their recycled bottles are ones that have bottle deposit legislation in place. The bottle deposit laws place a value onto bottles that can be received back in return of the bottles. This is why some bottles are worth 10 cents, others are worth 15 cents, and so on. Essentially part of the money that you pay when purchasing a recyclable bottle is a deposit that you can receive back once you properly recycle it. So why aren't you already recycling and getting your money back?!
States that have this law as of December 2018 are:
California
Connecticut
Hawaii
Iowa
Massachusetts
Maine
Michigan
New York
Oregon
Vermont
A complete list along with information of the beverages covered can be found here: http://www.bottlebill.org/legislation/usa/allstates.htm. Want to know if your state is in the process of petitioning to gain a bottle bill for themselves? Check here http://www.bottlebill.org/legislation/campaigns.htm.
There are also various countries that have bottle bills in place. If you are heading out of the country you should feel empowered to look up their legislation regarding recycling.
How do I know if the bottle is refundable?
Firstly, look for the recycling symbol on the bottle or can. From there look for the states that accept the bottles and the amount that they accept them for. This can typically be found on the side of the bottle where the seam of the wrapper is or close to the barcode. The bottle will have a list of states along with a cent amount if it is a refundable bottle.
Sometimes a recycling center will accept bottles even if they don't have the specified state on them, so you can always try to bring some bottles that don't explicitly state the state that you're in to the center. For example, my friends and I had a hunch that some of the Vermont IPAs that were in the house may be accepted, so we brought them along. There's no harm trying!
Even if the bottle is unable to be recycled for cash, the bottle can still be recycled. These bottles can be brought to recycling centers or placed in home or work recycling bins. At the end of the day every item kept out of landfills is better for the planet!
Where do I go to recycle?
There are one of two options that you can go to to recycle your bottles:
Recycling Centers: These centers will typically give money based on weight and are more easily searchable online for locations. To find these centers you can search for your state's recycling laws and there will typically be a list that you can access of these centers.
Deposit Centers: These centers are typically found at grocery stores or at different businesses. They are self service machines where you place the bottles in on your own. The machine will read the barcode on the bottle and give the specified amount in return. Many of these locations may have different limits on how many bottles that you can recycle per day. Additionally, they are a little harder to search for.
Once you know what location you will be going to try to call the facility. By calling the center first, you can get an idea of what is accepted and what is not.
How do I prepare my recyclables?
Most facilities expect that your bottles will be cleaned out. If the bottles aren’t cleaned out the recycling machinery can become clogged and sticky. My friends and I chuckled at first saying that we were washing our trash but knew that it was important that we recycled properly. Simply swishing water in the bottle will do in most cases, no soap necessary.
If you are going to a deposit center, it is important that you do not crush the bottles and cans. The machines that you put the bottles into will read the barcode on the cans. If the machine can't read the barcode, it can't accept the bottle, and it can't give you a refund. Therefore, it is important that the machine will be able to read this. If the cans and bottles are non-refundable feel free to crush the cans that you have so that they do not take up as much space.
My experience
Throughout the weekend my friends and I sifted through our trash keeping three trash bags in the house- one for recyclables that had labels stating they were accepted in Vermont, one for non-refundable recyclables, and one for plain trash. We made sure to wash out our recyclable containers before we put them into the bags and didn't crush them.
At the end of the weekend we took off to a Shaw’s Grocery Store that we knew had a sign advertising that it was a recycling center from prior trips there. The actual recycling location was a separate section from the rest of the store, and we had to enter its own door. Prior to going we had called the store in order to get more information about what products they accepted. They let us know that they accepted both plastic and glass bottles so we made sure to only bring those bottles.
When we got there there were two machines- one for plastic cans and then other for glass bottles. As you can see in the photo below, the opening for the machine is circular. We went through our bags and placed our containers in one by one. As you put the bottle into the machine, the machine pulls the bottle back on a conveyer belt. It then spins the bottle to read the barcode. Therefore, it was really important that the bar code was readable and that the container fit within the hole.
It was extremely satisfying when the machine accepted the bottle. It would shoot it to the back and crush the plastic bottles and the glass bottles would be dropped down creating a shattering noise.
While we were recycling we did have the experience where some of the bottles we brought where not accepted by the machine. A prompt came up on the machine's screen stating “Store does not accept this brand.” We were still able to throw these bottles into bins placed in the room for non-refundable bottles. We were glad to still be able to keep these bottles out of the landfill.
There were a few of these containers throughout the room. Each accepted its own type of recyclable like aluminum and cardboard. Had we known this previously we would have brought our other recycling items from the house to keep them out of landfills. Before you go on your own recycling adventure I would highly recommend asking your facility if they have something like this.
After we put in all of our bottles we pressed the green button where it gave us a receipt of our earnings that we could claim in the store at checkout. Overall our three day trip got us a whopping...
$1.55! Although this isn’t a large amount of money the feeling of doing this for the first time along with knowing that we were helping the planet even just a small bit was a huge rush. The place that we recycled was on our way so we didn't have to spend any money on gas, but this just shows that you should be prepared to gather a large amount of bottles if you are going out of your way to recycle the bottles.
Overall this was a great experience and we figured it out and did it. I plan on doing this more when I do find myself in states with bottle deposit legislation. Let me know if you have recycled for cash and what your experience was. I'd love to hear about it!
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