$5.77

$5.77 was the amount of money that I received a couple of days ago when I hauled two trash bags full of empty glass bottles and one trash bag full of plastic bottles to my local recycling center. Better than nothing, definitely. I used the money towards my purchase at the grocery store. The recycling center was was tiny, about the size of four parking spots, located next to the grocery store. I was surprised to find the center so packed. There were two cars in line waiting to unload their recyclable goodies.

The center was small and inefficient. I commend the people in line who were willing to wait a good 15 minutes to get a few dollars back. One family even brought their children with them-- A good move because a sense of environmental responsibility is best instilled while young. I watched as one family inserted their plastic bottles one by one into the automatic bottle collection machine. The machine next to it was out of order. The attendant at the center was also inefficient. He was slow and more interested in chatting with his partner than helping out the customers. Certainly something can be done to improve our recycling centers. They should be clean and efficient in order to attract more people to recycle. These people are not getting a lot of money back and are unlikely to wait in line and watch excruciatingly as someone inserts bottle by bottle into the machines. Let us not test their patience lest they decide never to recycle again.