Return neighbours' bottles to store (Day 29)

I had an interesting encounter with a neighbour yesterday.  His eldest daughter and mine are the same age, and we often get the girls together to play.  He's a stay-at-home dad, so it is not unusual to see him walking around the neighbourhood with his kids in tow.

Yesterday, he was towing something completely different.

"Hey Jen", he called through my screen door, "come see what I have for your blog!"

Curious, I went to the door. There he was, with his daughter, and a wagon full of empty beer, wine and liquor bottles. 

"We found all of these on our street!"  Yesterday was blue bin recycle day.  He and his daughter had gone searching through the bins to see what finds could be had.

It turns out that he got the idea from someone else he knows.  Both families were trying to explain to their children about money, and explained that people often throw money, and acceptable recyclable materials, away.  They proceeded to demonstrate by collecting wine and beer bottles from recycling bins on their streets. 

In our city, wine and beer bottles are supposed to be returned to the liquor or beer store for recycling.  Residents are encouraged not to place these items in the blue box, as it will leave more space for other recyclable materials.  Here is a link to the Ontario Deposit Return Program, which is spearheading this initiative.   (http://www.bagitback.ca/bagitback/en/residential/index.shtml)  DH and I already take our wine and beer bottles back, so it never occurred to me that someone wouldn't do this.

My friend and his daughter netted about $5 worth of recyclables.  Not bad for a 10 minute walk up and down our street.   On our next blue box recycling day, I am going to take my kids for a walk and see if we can earn a little spending money in the name of the environment.