The problem with recycling
As a believer in recycling, I try to do my part. Blue box: check. Reduce packaging and bagging: check. Send back the empty bottles: check.
To be fair, the sending back bottles usually falls to other family members, but I do let them keep the cash. Seemed fair, before today. When I went grocery shopping, I was confronted with four big bags of bottles that I had put there, in one of those “move it to another place” temporary solutions we all use when people are coming to visit. And now, alone, at the grocery store… I decided to learn what “bringing back the empties” entails.
There’s a machine. A robot, if you will. Stands near the main door, and has a slot that accepts plastic containers. Pop it in, collect cash. And the first few went just fine. Until a red light came on, and a scrolling LED suggested requesting aid. Inside, wait at the courtesy counter, pass along the alarm, return and see what happens next.
Someone with a key came, pushed some buttons, nodded that things were now under control and left. I started, again. And managed six bottles before the halt. Same routine, same result. When the problem recurred, I accepted that my time was worth more than a few virtual nickels, and I left the remainer of my stock of empties for the next (more patient) client. A hard choice, but I was able to convince myself that someone needier would take my place in the great chain.
And that resumes the whole recycling conundrum. Until society “ups the ante”, most of us are just going to get impatient, and leave the task to someone else.
