Empties

Recycling
Originally uploaded by Blue Dragonfly Girl

I happened to read a post on the Detroit-based blog Sweet Juniper titled, "Bootstraps" about giving empty soda bottles to a homeless guy:

"I watch him calculate a route through the darkness and snow to the archipelago of bodegas and ghetto grocery stores that impose limits on how many bottles one man may return to deter men like him from returning anything for the meager cash this labor provides. There's a plastic bag wrapped around one of his ratty tennis shoes. The old man hoists ten dollars worth of aluminum and plastic onto his back with the promise of malt liquor or a hamburger or whatever the hell he wants spurring him away from me, and I can't remember the last time I felt this ashamed."

I hadn't realized that in the US (or at least some states) there are limits on how much recycling can be cashed in on at a given time. It surprised me to read that. It's interesting also because in contrast, here in PoA, recycling seems to be an acceptable way to make a living. That's what the guy in the picture is doing. You can't see him because he's pulling the cart, but you can see all the cans in the white bag hanging at the back of the cart, likely organized into different types of recyclable material.

During my first full day here, I noticed quite a few folks on horse-drawn carts making their way through the neighborhoods, stopping at each trash receptacle and sorting through its contents until they found recyclable items. (I wasn't brave enough to take a picture; the picture on this post was about much bravery as I could muster). Later in the day, I saw professional garbage trucks picking up trash too. A. told me that both these systems work side by side with each other.

And this makes sense...why not keep it open for people to make money in legal ways, right?  A. told me a story of a woman she met in a poorer neighborhood in the city who started changing her situation through recycling. In doing so, she inspired many of the neighborhood women to do the same. They feel empowered and believe that their work is helping to save the planet...which indeed it is. Contrast that story, with the sad one from the blog above, and it's odd how making money off recycling can have so many meanings.