Little Reminders

My mom grew up in San Francisco. During World War II citizens were asked to contribute to the war efforts in various ways.  For small children it was saving foils or rather separating the foil from the wax part of the gum wrapper.  That’s what my mom remembered.  She said she got really good at it and was quite proud of her accomplishment.  Every time I see split wrappers, I think of her.  She has made her presence known to me through these small reminders. 

Here is an interesting read that comes from Tennesse.

Bottles, Cans and Plastic Bags

When we had purchased juice, sodas, bottled water and so forth in Salt Lake, we were not required to put a deposit on the containers.  Here in Oregon we are.  Some people don’t seem to care that they are paying ten cents extra and will carelessly toss containers away as recycling seems to be such a bother – which it is.  I was not opposed to tossing cans into the recycle bin when we lived in Salt Lake, but all of those cans and bottles add up – especially for party animals or those who drink by the pack.   

There are some areas that offer services by providing machines outside of their stores, others who have tried their hand at providing the service but doing away with the service when it becomes more work for the store who has to send employees out to empty bins, clear jams and what have you. The local store Rays has a couple of machines out front. But for those who have bags and bags of bottles, Roseburg BottleDrop Redemption Center is a really great place to go.  On November 22^nd 2017 Gabby Urenda reported this story

We went there one Saturday and waited in a line that proceeded to get longer before we were able to find a machine to put our cans and bottles in.  I like watching the machine sort the bottles from the cans.  Unlike the machines in front of Rays that deposit cans into the bottom, the machines at the Redemption Center have conveyor belts and I’m guessing people behind those belts who change the tubs as they get full instead of opening a door at the request of a customer who has brought to the attention of store employees that the machine had stopped. 

I had mentioned the recycling program in this post, though I hadn’t explored the Redemption Center at that point.  In addition to the mandatory ten cent deposit on each can and bottle, legislature has voted Oregon to ban plastic bags thus encouraging patrons to recycle or used recycled bags or pay for each bag they need to hold whatever they purchase wherever they purchase.

  Thus we have a hardy supply of bags in our car.  We rarely remember to bring them into the store.  Fortunately the parking lot is generally not that far away.  Jenna usually has a sweatshirt on and will often take it off and turn it into a temporary bag.  I am impressed out how much it will hold. 

Dash #47 Beth Rankin

  

It seems the answer to this question would define her dash more than my own.  But here goes:

        I may have mentioned before that when I lived in Kearns, the residents were given the option of purchasing a can for recycling. At that time, we had a household of five and then six.  Our trash can was ALWAYS full – often the day AFTER garbage day.  As our family needed the extra space, I opted to receive (and pay for) the can.  Two years the purchase of a recycled can was no longer an option.  Everyone received cans – only the mandatory cans were smaller than the initial one I had purchased (or leased rather).

          I tried to be conscience of recycling products, but wasn’t a fanatic about it.  I would sometimes get on the case of my boys or husband (who still hasn't grasped the concept) annoyed that they couldn't get it, but even Jenna had it down by the age of three.

          Two years before we moved to Oregon, I met Beth Rankin for the first time. She and Roland had met through high school band and she asked if she could meet with us as she passed through Salt Lake on her way to moving to Oregon. I remember the day well.  It was mom's fourth day at St. Marx hospital - which really has nothing to do with Beth.  Just that we had met at Firehouse Subs because I could make it on the way to the hospital and both were near Roland's place of work.

          Beth introduced us to her husband, Graham, and Roland introduced me to them (I was the last one to arrive, first to leave our luncheon). Although I didn't realize it at the time, I had met one of the most eco-friendly people on this planet.

          Beth Rankin lives in McMinnville and had taken us on a tour of the Habitat for Humanity - a site that allows people to dump and pick up supplies for home repair, gardening and those types of things.  Since she has lived here, she has joined several community organizations and chapters.  She opened a business to help the farmers with their product. It's been an interesting journey.  I love Beth so much, not because of her overly conscience efforts to recycle, but the wisdom that she shares with others and turning so many ordinary moments into teaching moments.  It's great!

        Whenever Roland messes up on recycling, I tell him that I will tell Beth on him.  Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to carry a lot of weight.

To learn more about Beth and her causes you can read her blog here and other sites here, here, and here.

Easy Money - for her anyway

            When Jenna was three she had learned what goes into the recycling can and what waste goes into the garbage - something her dad and brothers never seemed to catch onto no matter how many times I tried to spell it out for them.  They either just didn't get it, were just too lazy or just didn't care.  Often Jenna and I would scold them.  It was pretty funny when she was the one who called them on it.

            Since we've been in Oregon Roland has improved a great deal.  Still not perfect, but much much better at recycling in Oregon than he was in Salt Lake.

            In Salt Lake there were few who would actually collect the aluminum cans and physically take them to a recycling and get paid so much per pound.  Here, in Oregon, deposits are paid at the time of purchase.  In order to get our deposit back, we need to recycle.  And we can't crush down cans and bottles the way we did in Salt Lake.  The item is deposited into a machine that will read the barcode and tally each bar code read. 

            The machine then spits out a receipt for the total amount of containers returned.  That is then taken to the register of whatever store the machine resides and a deposit is collected - which we should just apply to our next purchase, but somehow we have given Jenna the honors of collecting the cans and water bottles and taking them to the machine and allowing her to keep the money for her part in.

            Jenna's got a good head on her shoulders.   When she is not making money out of recycled products, she is creating.  As I have mentioned in several posts, Jenna had a healthy imagination. 

            The idea behind this creation was to roll paper out as though it were a tongue, and she could tear off the amount needed as one would with tape.