Cash your trash
One of the major annoyances in much shared housing is trash. There is always too much and the space in the wheelie bins is always too small. There is a way to solve this and make extra money right away. After all, your bottles, beer cans and water bottles are worth money. But how do you turn this garbage into rock hard cash? Here's a step-by-step plan.
Collect your bottles and cans in a fixed place:
It sounds simple, but of course the first step is to make sure the bottles and cans don't end up among the regular trash. So look for a box or a crate and collect all the cans and bottles in here. NOTE: Make sure that the bottles and cans remain unbroken. Otherwise the barcode will not be easy to read and you will not get your money back. Is the box full? Then you are ready for step 2.
Take the empty cans and bottles to the local supermarket.
In the Netherlands, every local supermarket has a drop-off point for empty bottles, cans and crates of beer. The plan is that in the future there will be even more drop-off points at train stations, schools and shopping malls. Anything to make it as easy as possible for people to turn in their empty bottles.
Place the bottles and cans in the machine.
Step 3 is child's play. Place the bottles in the vending machine. When you are done, press the big green button on the machine and it will give you a receipt. You can turn this in at the cash register. You can use it to pay for some of your groceries, or you can get the money back that's on the receipt. The choice is yours.
How much deposit do you get back?
The big question, of course, is how much do you get back? Here are the amounts:
- Cans - 0.15
- Small soft drink and water bottle - 0.15
- Large soft drink bottle - 0,25
- Crate 12 bottles: €1.95
- Crate 18 bottles (0.50 l): €4.90
- Crate 24 bottles (0.30 l): €3.90
Bottles and other glassware is still without deposit. You can dispose of these in the bottle bank. These can be found in various places in neighborhoods and at supermarkets. It is also important that these are returned. You may not get money in return, but they are reused and that is better for the planet.