Fine Points of Recycling

Hello, Matt:

Each 12-ounce beer bottle says "10 cent CRV refund." When I took about 200 saved-up bottles to a recycle place, to my surprise, they did not count the bottles, just dumped them in a container to be weighed. When I was shown the refund and questioned it, they said it was, like, 10 cents a pound. The 10 cent CRV printed on the label can be deceiving. You naturally think, "Wow, I am getting back 10 cents. I better drink more!" I did the same thing at the local Albertsons shopping-center recycling place. I was given 5 cents CRV per bottle. This is confusing. In fact, that is when I later took the bottles to the recycle center, thinking I would get 10 cents instead of 5 cents per bottle. So, you are saying that the 10 cents per bottle CRV on the label means 10 cents per pound?

-- Leonard, somewhere between the beer store and the recycle center

Zowie! Surprised you could find the recycle center after 200 beers. But that was your big mistake. You are due 5 or 10 cents back, depending on the size of the bottles (5 cents for less than 24 ounces, 10 cents for the larger ones) only if you bring in fewer than 50 at a time. Fewer than 50, the recycler folks count 'em out and pay you accordingly. More than 50, the law sez they can pay you by weight. The weight value isn't based on the CRV but on the market price for old beer bottles. Same applies to cans. So, see if you can get yourself up and out of the house every 49 beers or so to get your full recycle fee back.