There are a couple things that might surprise you about the bottle returns at the recycling centre. One is that anyone would say that being part of the bottle drive effort is “fun,” and that the money generated from the bottles amounts to tens of thousands of dollars a year.
Katherine Gish has been volunteering with the refundables at the recycling depot for a decade and Gish describes her experience there as “fun.” As anyone who has been there knows, the volunteers hoping to raise cash for their organization deal with damp cold conditions part of the year, and in the past summer’s heat there were wasps. “The wasps were so crazy, there were people with epi pens,” says Gish. Somehow, no one seems to mind. The rewards have been worth it.
Gish says that “started to see all organizations making money from this, “so she got involved with the bottle drive with the community school parents advisory committee. “At that time everyone got 6-8 weeks.” Now organizations are each allotted one-month and some months are more lucrative than others. Gish then became involved with the Christmas Craft Fair for the Community School Association. “The CSA has the month of December which is a lucrative month. An organization can make $3,000 to $4,000 in one month for net profit.”
Over the course of the year around $48,000 flows into island organizations from bottles. The way it works for groups is that they apply to get onto the waiting list and, once on, Bowen Waste Service waits until the green bin gets full, Dave or Louise McIntosh take the bin to town, charging the organization $125. The organization nets the profits.
Louise says that, on average, “a group $1,300 makes every two weeks and shares in an annual income in excess of $40,000.”
Gish says that CAWES has been involved at BIRD possibly the longest, “along with the Little Red Church.”
“It just gets better and better, easier and easier. It’s so easy to do it feels like a breeze,” says the volunteer. “You just need a good organizer to take the lead with shifts. If the bins are overflowing or it’s a hassle for the BIRD personnel to deal with your group, you’ll lose the opportunity.” Gish advises anyone thinking about getting involved in fundraising through the bottle returns, “you are reaping a great benefit for your organization, it’s easy it’s fun “
This month the group benefitting from the bottle drop-off is The Caring Circle, a health resource centre.
