My parents collect cans for a living • Hacker News Board

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#221

Post by bluedino » Mon, Dec 20, 2021, 2:25 PM UTC

tschwimmer wrote: post #8

jandrewrogers wrote: post #4

I have not thought about collecting cans in a very long time. Decades ago you could make a decent bit of cash collecting aluminum cans. It was a common past time for poor people and undoubtedly contributed to the very high recycle rate for aluminum since it was a source of income for many people. This was widely known, so people would often go out of their way to make their aluminum trash easily available to be colle…

In the San Francisco Bay area, collecting cans is still very common among the homeless. In some parts of SF people will dig through your recycling (and garbage) every garbage day for recycling. Additionally, many public garbage cans have a semi-open section at the top which I have seen used for disposing of cans. I don't know if it's intentionally designed that way, but it's much easier for anyone to get the cans fro…

If you leave your trash out the night before, someone will come by, slit the bags open and remove anything made of metal. They will leave your trash in your yard.

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#222

Post by kwhitefoot » Mon, Dec 20, 2021, 2:31 PM UTC

Aissen wrote: post #105

kwhitefoot wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in Norway a half litre or smaller container has a deposit of 2 kr, bigger containers are 3 kr (22 and 33 US cent respectively). But it isn't the size of the deposit that drives the return rate (95% or more here in Norway) it is the ease of doing it. Here all shops that sell such goods are required to accept the containers in return even if they were not purchased in that shop and even if they are of a different…

Saw that at your neighboor's in Copenhagen, and after the first outrage of paying +50cts per drink, I understood that I was seeing a glimpse the future… If littering is equivalent to throwing money, you simply won't do it. Weird side-effect: homeless people might ask for your empty bottle and do the collection. Not sure how I feel about that though…

Not in Norway, not enough homeless people and far too few discarded bottles and cans.

I pick up the occasional beer can on the beach near where I live but they are almost always Polish and of course have no deposit.

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#223

Post by dark-star » Mon, Dec 20, 2021, 2:35 PM UTC

laulis wrote: post #178

subpixel wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn’t there a decline in deposit bottle usage in Germany? When I was a kid beer was delivered to your house by the crate and empties picked up. I was led to believe this has become less common, which would be regrettable bc it was elegantly efficient.

There's Flaschenpost[1] in some cities, and afaik it's pretty popular. Me and my partner use it pretty regularly. [1] https://www.flaschenpost.de/

wow, what a badly designed site. I can't even look at it because it keeps pestering me with some popup that asks for my ZIP code (which I don't want to provide, as I just want to know what that page is all about)

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#224

Post by smt88 » Mon, Dec 20, 2021, 2:37 PM UTC

jimbokun wrote: post #210

smt88 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"It's worse somewhere else" isn't relevant to whether it's acceptable in the US. The US has the resources to reward hard workers with financial stability. It also benefits from brain-draining other countries with this promise. If the US continues to slide away from the "American Dream," the brains and prosperity will end up somewhere else.

> The US has the resources to reward hard workers with financial stability. Most hard workers in the U.S. are rewarded with financial stability. Not everyone, but enough that people still flock here from other countries where that's less true. > It also benefits from brain-draining other countries with this promise. Well gee, I guess the U.S. should stop being such a great place for immigrants, so talented people sto…

> Most hard workers in the U.S. are rewarded with financial stability. Not everyone, but enough that people still flock here from other countries where that's less true.

You think restaurant workers are lazy? Factory workers? Amazon fulfillment workers?

Why do people need two or three exhausting jobs to make a living?

> Well gee, I guess the U.S. should stop being such a great place for immigrants, so talented people stop coming here and stay wherever they live now.

I don't know what this means. Have the courage to say what you mean instead of using sarcasm.

Whatever you mean, the US needs young workers to resolve our massive labor shortage and we need educated workers to be our next generation of scientists, doctors, engineers, and entrepreneurs.

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#225

Post by bluedino » Mon, Dec 20, 2021, 2:38 PM UTC

Michigander here. One of the very few states in the USA with a bottle deposit. 10 cents per can/bottle. It's actually prohibited to put a bottle or can in a landfill here.

It's very common to see people digging through trash cans and such, collecting bottles and cans to return for deposit. We have two garbage cans in the garage at home, when they both fill up we will take them back to the store. It's a inconvenience to go to the grocery store, wait in line for 20 minutes, then feed all the returnables into the machine, wait for the store staff to empty the machine so you can finish, and then turn the ticket in for eight dollars.

People in line become impatient and just give their bags of cans to anyone else in line who will take them. Then you get the odd bottles that aren't returnable at that store, because they don't sell that brand.

Part of the deal is the automated machines are not very fast. In the old days, a clerk counted them by hand or you just gave them a full 12/24 pack case. There aren't many machines, either. Another problem is if you return them to a small convenience store, the staff won't give you money back, they insist on only store credit, not cash refund. Which I'm pretty sure is against the law.

I have a recycle bin in my office, overflowing with empty aluminum cans of Monster, plastic bottles of Mt Dew, and glass kombucha bottles. I always tell the cleaning guy he can have them. There's a social stigma attached to carrying a bag of bottles through the office and out to my car. There might be 3 or 4 dollars worth in there, so who cares.

Lots of charities have bottle drives, sometimes one of the parents will collect them for their school sports teams, and there's a dropoff for the local 4th of July fireworks show.

Also, when COVID first started, we couldn't return bottles for over 6 months. This lead to some pretty impressive amounts of bottles being kept at peoples homes.

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#226

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Dec 20, 2021, 2:38 PM UTC

zeckalpha wrote: post #162

kkjjkgjjgg wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So how much do you want to pay for bottle collecting? When you say "the US has the resources to reward hard workers", in this case you mean everybody who buys a bottle should pay more. Or how would you envision it to play out?

Many places use a deposit system, where if you return the packaging for recycling, you get your money back. This cuts down on litter, at no cost to those who recycle.

[deleted]

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#227

Post by rootsudo » Mon, Dec 20, 2021, 2:40 PM UTC

lazyasciiart wrote: post #79

rootsudo wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it is a 100% valid statement. Are the authors parents, or is the author even valid to reside in the USA permanently? And before anyone cries "racist", my background is 100% similar to the author in question. It's a shame that in the USA we have people who never really learned the Spanish language or culture and go on with "latinx" which is mocked even on twitter, to people who protect people that may have ent…

Long-winded way of saying you think America should not allow poor people to immigrate because they might cost society too much, and poor Spanish speaking immigrants are probably illegal anyway.

It's valid. Refugees are refugees and are granted legal status. Illegitimate Spanish speaking aliens encourage human trafficking through unsafe conditions, Turbo, Colombia, Darien Gap, Cayotes in general and sponser cartels, - etc, worker extortion, unsafe work places (e.g. company hires illegal aliens, pays under minimum wage, no safety regards and if there's any talk out of line - it's just a call to ICE/DHS and the problem is solved and other problems are brushed under the rug, illiteracy, and future broken families because when they are caught, they will uproot or dampen their families in the USA financially and criminally.

Legal immigration is fine, there are support networks in place to grant a base wage/support, language support in Spanish and English Classes/Adult ESL classes/ Adult GED classes because they are a citizen and as an American USA Citizen they are entitled to that.

Your reply is baitclicky poverty porn that sounds bad, so it must be bad (and ignore every other issue because it feels bad) - because when you look at Indian Immigration, Chinese Immigration - it is 100% a different issue. Less of all the above issues.

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#228

Post by taude » Mon, Dec 20, 2021, 2:40 PM UTC

donohoe wrote: post #176

In my neighborhood some people will bag cans and bottles separately from the other recycling and leave them out for the collectors. Another is to loosely and visibly tie the recycling bag so it’s easier to open. If you have collectors in your neighborhood I recommend these easy ways to help.

I started doing this a few months ago, too. I noticed that the collectors would be digging through the recycling bins, and I was worried that they'll cut themselves or something, so I decided to make their life a bit easier, and I separate my glass beverage bottles and cans from the regular recycling bin. I've been trying to get my neighbors to do this to. I live in a shared condo building, so this has the nice advantage for us of making less recycling for the regular pickup, and easier to carry the big toter bin.

The boxes of cans and bottles seem to disappear within an hour of me putting them out the night before.

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#229

Post by orangepurple » Mon, Dec 20, 2021, 2:46 PM UTC

carlmr wrote: post #146

berkes wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Germany -at least the cities I'm familiar with- everyone places their cans and bottles next to the trash-can. German bottles often have "pfand gehört daneben" (Deposits belong next to it) printed on them[0]. And some cities even placed special holders alongside the trashcans[1]. Like with many things, Germans have made deposit collection into an efficient job. [0] https://kaiserkiwi.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/f…

The only issue is that glass bottles are too cheap and heavy. They should at least have a 25 cent deposit as well. Right now no homeless person picks those up, because it's just not worth it. Even with 25 cents there would still be a disincentive due to the weight, but I also don't want to incentivize bottle makers to produce more plastic, for them to lower the price at the counter.

I don't understand the point of recycling glass. Most glass is mostly sand, an abundant raw material.

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#230

Post by poo-yie » Mon, Dec 20, 2021, 2:48 PM UTC

Ensorceled wrote: post #150

johnnyApplePRNG wrote: post #32

As they should. About a decade ago in Toronto, Ontario, Canada we actually made collecting cans out of recycling bins illegal. The city claimed that these "scavengers" were taking their rightful profits. I shit you not. [0] [0] https://toronto.citynews.ca/2008/08/07/city-to-crack-down-on...

The dirty secret of recycling is that a significant percentage of what the city of Toronto collects is not really recyclable; those black take out containers, pizza boxes, plastic bags, contaminated paper products, loose lids .... The only truly recyclable products are aluminum cans, clean paper and clear glass. Aluminum cans and clean cardboard are the only thing that really pays to recycle. If for profit companies,…

What's the significance of the glass being clear? I'm guessing this means that green or brown glass is not recyclable. Why is that?