Bottle Drop

Because I love a fun with figures post, here is another one.

We dropped off a total 16 Green Bags at the local Bottle drop in 2022. Those bags contained a whopping 1,451 bottles or cans. The most bottles or cans in a bag was 101 and the lowest figure was 720, so each bag contained on average of around 91 cans or bottles.

Without the fees that would have netted us a total of $145.10 back. But with fees those 16 bags returned $135.50 into our account. They charge 40¢ per bag to count them (AKA run them through a machine) and 20¢ for the bag itself (they come in boxes of ten for two bucks.) This meant we got about 93.3% back of all those dime deposits we paid at the store. We consider that 6.7% money well spent on not standing in a line and feed the counting machines on our own.

We just got a letter from the Bottle Drop folks to let us know that the flat forty cent bag processing fee was going up to 8% of the bag contents. Tack on the twenty cents per bag and our return will probably end up falling to close to 90%.

Probably still worth it. Especially if you use the money in your bottle drop account at a participating BottleDrop Plus retailers because they offer 20% more for your refund value. Meaning your hundred bucks is worth $120 at that store (mostly supermarkets.)

We drink a fair amount of canned soda here at the House of Bogardi. We split a 7-Up with our morning snack, we each have a soda with our lunch, Ginger Ale for her, a Coke Zero for me, and there is another split 7-Up in the afternoon. There is a second Ginger Ale as a nightcap for her occasionally. This means we generate about 30 empty cans a week.

Back in South Carolina, these cans went into our recycle bin, but here in Oregon there is a ten cent bounty on every can, so they go into a plastic bag to be redeemed at the local Bottle Drop.

When we first got here, we would fill up a couple (or three) tall kitchen trash bags and go early one weekday morning when it was less busy. Donna used to go inside feed the machines a can, or bottle, at a time. The machine would spit out a ticket and she’d walk across the room and redeem it for cash money. Each kitchen garbage bag would yield on average $7.50.

But every since the Covid Pandemic started, it seems like there is no non-busy time anymore. A couple of times we’ve donated the bags away to some neighborhood Boy Scouts. This last time it was so busy when we got there and we didn’t feel like lugging the two bags home, so Donna gave them to a homeless fellow that was in line outside the building.

This last incident was the tipping point. Forget this whole going inside thing, they have something called the Green Bag program where you can just drop off a bag full of cans and bottles in a door outside, so no waiting. The downside to it is that you don’t get your cash right then and there, it shows up in your account within a week. Also you lose 6 cans a bag in a way, they subtract 20¢ for the bag (you buy a roll of 10 for for $2) and 40¢ for each bag for processing.

We think that sixty cent deduction a bag is worth it, for no longer having to try and guess when it is not busy and having to feed the cans and bottles in one at a time.