Blue Box Laugh!
This is a picture of our Blue Box.... well, maybe not ours since it was stolen, but rather a picture of one from the Surrey Recycling website.
Ok, here's the laugh. Last week I took our porch-full (really, I'm hardly exaggerating here) of recycleables to the recycling center. They refund you between 5¢ and 20¢ per item (originally paid as a deposit) depending on whether it's a can or a clear plastic bottle. I walked away with over $20.00 as well as the many label-less (thank you, Sir) and American items that were rejected. These 'rejects' completely filled our blue box to heaping and as a result, I put it out with the trash this week.
The following day, before the garbage and recycling trucks came around, I had to take the car out somewhere. As I backed out of the driveway, I noticed that our blue box was gone. When I got out to investigate, I realized that only the box and the refundable looking items were missing. All of the non-refundable appearing things that were at the bottom of the blue box were scattered on the ground beside the still full garbage cans where the blue box had once been.
I got a laugh out of imagining the theif's disappointment when trying to get a refund as bottle after bottle and can after can was re-rejected! The blue box still hasn't been returned, so now we have to request another one from the city of Surrey. Oh well, at least I got a fair bit of amusement out of the experience and we still don't have recycleables taking over the porch anymore!
Ha! The joke's on him! When I recycle I let the recycler keep the rejects for me. They will take them if you ask. You just don't get money for them. It keeps me from hauling them back home again. Then again, if you want to pull a fast one on the local "scrounge" by all means, bring 'em home!
ReplyDeleteI'm still not sure just what is acceptable and what is not when it comes to recycling. We have a local, or maybe a faraway person who trots by our garbage cans before the trucks come down the street. He "raids" everyone's trash can and collects what he can use, maybe he gets more than $20 every Monday.
ReplyDeleteWe have a nice 'local scrounge'. He drives all over in his little red pick-up and gently stirs up the garbage cans every Monday morning. I have twice offered to give him ours to save us the trip. (We don't generate much)Once he was already in our driveway and accepted , the next timehe just shrugged; no sabe ingles!!
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