Bottle Train

bottlebrigadeYes, the GG (in the foreground of yesterday’s pic) does look as though he’s angry that somebody else got to the trash first. We all know people throw valuable stuff into the trash all the time, roight? Actually, the guy going thru the trash was humming an Asian-sounding melody as he picked bottles out of that trash can, which was located on the sidewalk that runs along the east (?) side of Dolores Park in the mission district. When we came along with our empties from lunch, he interrupted his activities to very politely accept our contributions to his stash and then he went back to humming. Our trip to the left coast was a whirlwind that ended too soon. I have been (butt in seat whomp!) firmly ensconced in my beloved cube all week, and I am not going to even begin to try to make some kind of political statement about this but I have to say that I greatly enjoyed the bottle-pickers that seemed to be absolutely everywhere. They roamed both of the parks we ate take-out lunch in, waiting until all of us tourists looked like we were finished with our cans or bottles and then politely asking for them. And heck, I didn’t wanna schlep that empty bottle all over San Francisco.

I loved the bottle train in the photo. I think my kids were not happy that I took this picture but I did not get their faces in it or anything. These characters walked this train of shopping carts several long city blocks (that I saw, maybe their journey was longer). At first I was just thinking they were derelicts or whatever. But the more I watched, this seemed like a pretty darn well-oiled operation with several people shepherding a train of shopping carts to a grocery store with a decent bottle return facility.

We have bottle pickers here on the Planet Ann Arbor too, except maybe not in the parks. I sometimes see the bottle pickers when I’m walking on Friday morning, which is when we put the trash/recycling out. I think some people are so busy and/or disorganized that they put returnable bottles in their recycle bin. I don’t. Usually. When I have enough bottles to take them to the Meijer bottle return and it rejects one of the fancy labels that my 20-somethings have purchased, I usually give up and put the blasted bottle in my recycle bin. I love you guys *anyway*, even when I have to dredge orange slices outta that Oberon wheat beer or whatever it is. 🙂 🙂 🙂

One Response to “Bottle Train”

  1. Margaret Says:

    I wish we could recycle glass! We have to take it to a special place which isn’t very close or convenient. I would be happy to give up all my glass to anyone who needs it! GG does look a bit grumpy in the last photo.:)