Recycling: Easy In Schroon. Downstate: Not So Much
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Ever notice how the new recycling machines at Grand Union resemble a robot face with two rabbitt eyes? We saw it the other day as we were returning a case of (one of) our new favorite summer beers: Blue Moon. We take for granted how easy it is being green here and pocketing a few nickels and dimes. But for some folks down state bottle and can returns are a huge deal -- both in the number of returns and the lengths people go to make a few dollars. According to a story in the New York Times, some recyclers make up to $400 a week returning bottles and cans. So great is the demand for returns some recyclers offer an extra penny. The article reveals that beverage makers actually pay 8.5 cents per return. Jim Dwyer describes he scene outside a busy Brooklyn redemption center:
"The grocery carts are packed with cases of empty glass bottles, and these are topped by stacks of bags of plastic bottles, like a bubble bath that rises over the edge of the tub but somehow does not spill onto the floor. The aluminum cans swing in bags from out-riggings on the sides of the cart, broomsticks or drapery rods salvaged from the street".
How do you recycle? Do you dump everything off at the Transfer Station or feed the rabbitt robot at Grand Union? Tell us in comments.