Can Collecting

When we came to Norway, it was not very long before we noticed the recycling return machines in grocery stores. Rabbit and I noticed a few cans on the side of the street and we thought we would get a few kroner (the Norwegian currency) for candy. Once we started searching more carefully, we discovered cans in more and more hidden places. Each can or bottle is worth one kroner, which is the equivalent of twelve cents. The big two-liter bottles are worth two and a half kroner. Coming from Colorado where there is no can deposit, this seemed like a lot of money. At every chance we get, Rabbit and I walk through town to check parking lots, behind full trash cans, and in the bushes next to the road. By searching during our free time or whenever we are out walking with our parents, we have managed to collect almost six-hundred kroner (nearly $75) through recycling.

Here I am going for a bottle on the sea-side that the careless eye would have missed.

One of the coolest parts of the can returning process is the machine itself. There is a hole about eight inches wide where you put the recycling, one item at a time. Inside is a little conveyor belt. It takes the can or bottle back about ten inches into the machine where two rollers rise next to the item. This causes the can or bottle to spin also. Then, a laser reads the barcode. If the barcode is unreadable, the recycling is either not returnable or loaded incorrectly into the machine, and the machine rejects it. If it picks up the barcode, it takes it further into the machine and sorts it by diverting it into one of the boxes next to the conveyor belt. It amazes me how complex and effective the machine is.

 The machine.

 Jack inserts a Sprite bottle

 The Sprite bottle spins inside the machine

 A large bottle disappears

Rabbit takes the receipt from the machine that can be exchanged for money at the front desk.

In the town where we have been staying for the last few days, Rabbit and I have discovered where and when to look for the bottles. There are a few parking lots, plazas, and parks that, combined, usually hide twenty kroner in the late afternoon. A walk just before dinner usually results in the comic scene of Jack and me overloaded with cans and bottles as we head toward the recycling machine.

When we saw how much money we had made, Jack and I realized that we could get a large toy that would last us a long time. Instead of buying candy as we had originally planned, we bought nerf guns. We only used half of our recycling money. We are not sure what we will do with the rest, though I suspect we will save it. -Porter