Green
The Pursuit of Redemption
me, I'm mostly green. Not that I go out of my way
to be so. Just normal everyday things. Water conservation; when I'm running
water, I actively think about if it's necessary to keep it running to accomplish
the task at hand. Little things. Recycling. I recycle paper and such. A lot of
it ends up being consumed in fires that I have from time to time. Maybe not the
greenest way, but it's not piled up in a landfill somewhere. Also recycle bottle
and cans, nothing to difficult about that. Just throwing the used container into
a different bin. When it came to empty beer cans (ewe, don't like beer from a
can) and bottles they would just go in the bin with the other glass and cans. Or
if there was a bunch of them, like from a party, my brother would take them in
and get the 5 cents deposit that is charged on each container. I've brought back
beer bottles and cans in my younger days. Then the consumption level would make
bringing back the emptys actually worth a few bucks. But lately I don't drink as
much as I used to. Recently we had a rather large Labor Day party. The party was
actually to celebrate a few things. My 50th day of life, my daughter's going off
to college and a couple of other lesser things. Naturally there was a lot of
trash afterward. In the trash was a considerable amount of empty beer bottles,
enough to warrant a trip to the redemption center to cash them in and collect
the deposit. I have to admit I haven't turned in a beer bottle for redemption of
the deposit for some time now. I knew they had collection machines for cans and
bottles but never really gave any thought to their operation. I guess it would
make sense that these machines would somehow compact the empties to put a lot
more into a smaller space. So it would just seem that the cans would be crushed
allowing them to occupy about a tenth of the physical space they they originally
had. Now the bottles, hmm, never really thought about them. Well I found the
truth of the matter the other day. One of the local redemption centers is
located in a liquor store, makes sense. So I pull up and bring my collection of
assorted empty beer bottles into the redemption room. My first look around shows
a bunch of machines, okay. Then further inspection tells there is a machine for
cans, check. Another for plastic bottles, like soda pop and such. Then the third
type is for glass beer bottles, that's me. I set myself up in front of the
machine and prepare to begin the process. I'm not sure what to expect as I place
my first bottle into this circular 5 inch hole that is closed off by spring shut
doors. I push the bottle through the doors and a mechanism actually grabs the
bottle from you and starts it on the way to its demise. Next you hear some
whirring, I suppose the machine was checking the bar code to ensure that it is
in fact a 5 cent deposit bottle. Everything so far clears in my mind as the way
it would be. The next step is what took me and actually manifested into the
reason for this post. Something in the machine takes and physically breaks the
bottle. A clunk or two then you hear the sound of thousands of pieces of glass
raining down. Whoa, how cool is that. Immediately a bunch of thoughts pass
through my mind. First, now I understand how they compact the bottles for easier
transport. Second, my penchant for the sound of breaking glass is on high alert.
How great is this? So I put another in. The same process occurs. whir, click,
clank, clunk....chink, chink, chink, chink. I'm elated. Ever since I was young
I've had this thing for the sound of breaking glass. It stirs something inside
of me. I'm not sure the exact reasons why. So for the next 20 minutes or so, my
soul was abuzz with the pursuit of redemption.
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