Comments on: Can Collecting

By: Gruppie Girl

Gruppie Girl — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:25:37 +0000

I think that it must be a law that every town has a “can man.”

The can man in my town rides around on his bike in all types of weather. He never has as big of a bag as the person in your picture.

I agree that the bottle bill is a good thing. Here in CT there is a movement to raise the return to 10 cents. Personally, I recycle all of my cans. Many people won’t take the Initiative unless there is some financial reward.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:33:54 +0000

Mike Mahon has been picking up the cans since I was in middle school. I heard he donates some of the profits to the Marian High School track team.

If people do not want to dispose of their cans properly, let others do so for profit. If you remember before the bottle bill, there were empty cans everywhere.

If there is no reward, who will clean them up?

By: Ben

Ben — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:47:56 +0000

One guy is famous at softball and little league fields.

His profit is the town’s profit as well, there no can-and-bottle litter at those fields because he grabs all the stuff

Mike Mahon is his name

By: Rev. Bob Baril

Rev. Bob Baril — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:36:48 +0000

I live about a mile north of the Memorial Building. There are at least 2 can collectors who make the rounds through our neighborhood. I bring my soda bottles and cans back to the store and “redeem” the deposit money. Several months ago, Howie Carr on the radio announced that the number of people who bring their bottles and cans back to the stores is decreasing. Like many baby-boomers, when mandatory recycling started in Framingham around 1991, I whined about it, but now I have so much going out every week that my blue bin is overflowing and I usually have to supplement it with a cardboard box full of recyclables. I’d like to get one of those new yellow Framingham Recycle barrels I’ve started seeing around Town!

By: Tanya

Tanya — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:10:44 +0000

I don’t know if this is happening in Framingham, but in some cities like San Francisco they are losing a lot of town money due to this. The town pays for the fuel, maintenance and wages etc for recycling pick-up, and should make enough money to cover expenses by the recycling they pick up. However, when the quantity is decreased, the town is at a loss to be able to support their recycling programs.

By: Diana

Diana — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:29:16 +0000

I wish the state would do away with the Bottle Bill. I’d much rather just put all my aluminum/plastic/glass in my curbside recycle bin instead of having to bring it in for redemption. I’d be curious to know if the program was successful in getting more people to recycle. I was kid when it was enacted in 81 and back then nobody had recycle bins because there was no curbside recycling.

By: brian

brian — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:05:39 +0000

I haven’t noticed can collectors since moving to Framingham 4 years ago. It definitely was more noticable when we lived in Boston. I too felt very weird about somebody going through my trash/recycles, so on garbage night I would separate the deposit cans/bottles and place them next to my recycle bin to avoid the “rummaging”. If somebody chooses to do that to make a buck, I applaud that over panhandling any day.