My Two Cents

When I was a kid, one way we could make some easy money was to walk along the highway and pick up empty bottles. Back then bottles were used over and over again, and when you bought soda or beer you paid a deposit on the bottles. Luckily for young Alan, a lot of grownups were lazy and threw the empty bottles out the car window as they cruised down the road. Soda bottles were worth two cents, quart beer bottles were worth five cents. Considering a candy bar was five cents, and a popsicle was seven cents, picking up just a few bottles was a small fortune. And yes, there were a lot of empty beer bottles along the highway. Drinking and driving was considered no worse than speeding back then. I believe some states have deposit laws for cans and bottles now, but not Illinois. So I'm not sure how little kids make money these days.

Re-establishing refundable bottles and cans would be a good idea, and actual re-usable bottles would help with our trash problem. Much of our junk washes out to sea. I'm sure you've heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, where miles and miles of plastic and other debris are swirling in the North Pacific. Seriously, I think they should call it something else. Garbage patch makes it sound small, like a patch on your favorite jeans, or that small patch of tomatoes you grow in the back yard. I think they should call it the Sea of Indifference.

Thinking of all this has brought back another childhood memory. This one is my later childhood, my teen years. The years I worked at the Jewel store in Tinley Park. In a far corner, in the back room of the supermarket, was the returned bottle area. That was where all the bottles returned for refund were stacked, and I was the guy who had to stack them. I'm sure when they discontinued refundable bottles the store was very happy. I'm sure the stock boys who had to stack those things were happy too.