Redemption Reopening Revives A Lifeline

Bottle and can redemption centers at retail outlets reopened after two months this weekend, with new distancing rules that left some collectors indignant and others relieved.

Despite differences in opinion, consumers and collectors of Poland Spring, Coca Cola, and, yes, Corona lined up outside of Hamden supermarkets with shopping carts and trash bags overflowing with redeemable recyclables.

“People are buying bottles daily. What are we supposed to do with them?” said one man, who declined to be named.

He revealed that his van was full of Budweisers consumed over the past two months, noting that ​“Coronas are too expensive.”

By Friday morning, the first day many redemption centers reopened at Hamden supermarkets, he had already committed more than four hours to recycling the cans at the Stop & Shop and ShopRite outlets across from each other on Dixwell Avenue.

Depending on the store, the new regulations state that only one or two patrons can enter the center at once. Individuals can spend no more than 15 minutes in the room. Only so many bottles can be redeemed in one session.

“They’re only letting one person in at a time. It’s ridiculous!” complained Yolanda Longeardi, who was third in line when the ShopRite center reopened Friday at 9 a.m.

She said she had visited a West Haven facility a few weeks ago that remained open through the pandemic, but discovered a line of people stretching around the block. She turned around and drove home.

“They’ve been charging us extra without letting us redeem the items,” she reasoned. ​“They should have waived the five cent fee so long as centers remained shut.”

“It’s just money in the bank that we haven’t had,” said another woman on line.

Others in the line, like Pam Sims and Beverly Woods (above, left to right), were excited to get rid of the Diet Coke and seltzer bottles that were beginning to flood their basements.

Over at Stop & Shop, another group praised the new rules.

Mary Seeru (pictured), 80, expressed gratitude and support concerning the store’s choices to open slowly and cautiously.

Seeru was recently diagnosed with cancer, forcing her to take a break from her job at, coincidentally, ShopRite.

Last in a long line, she calmly stated that ​“whatever has to be done to keep everyone safe is what’s best.”

Julia Harper (pictured), who is diabetic and has obsessive compulsive disorder, had not been to a bottle redemption facility in over four years before this Sunday.

She explained that though she does not typically buy bottled drinks, she began purchasing two-liter water bottles in response to the pandemic. Compared to those with full shopping carts, she stood in line with nothing but one black garbage bag.

Though Harper continues to feel ​“nervous” about leaving the house, she depends on the income and structure provided by her job at the Dollar General.

She added with a soft smile, ​“if I didn’t go to work, my walls would not be walls anymore. I would tear them down and repaint them and everything.”

The distancing standards were the only reason she ​“felt OK deciding to come redeem the bottle deposits,” she said.

To cope with everything that has been going on, Harper has thought up other sustainable hobbies to divert her attention beyond recycling.

“I have seven potato plants!” she said.