Canning that heat: trickling the effects of refundibles and house parties

How is the can budgeting? Well i have been collecting cans, i have a full closet of them (picture to come) but i just haven’t had the time to deposit the suckers. i am still contemplating how i’m going to give my deposit money back to the community as well.

Lately i've realized college houses parties that leave their cans scattered across the street is really a beautiful example of the trickle down effect.

Remember that from 8th grade? The money goes through the middle class parents (which their class is assumed by their child’s enrollment in an institution of higher education; yes i am making a generality about the economic class of students' families, deal with it), through the hands of the college student who, like all college kids, spend their money on beer. The bi-product is a trashed house party and a plethora of cans cluttering the street.

We’ve all seen the less fortunate collect these aluminums off the street the day after a house party. This is a visible example of the trickle down effect. i’m sure it’s not the most prosperous version of it, but it may very well be the most consistent: no one’s gonna stop buying refundable cans any time soon.

i was toying around with this concept in my head before i went off to New Hampshire for the weekend. Some of my buddies that i met in London were having a big get together, so i made the hike out there for the party.

These guys go to school at the University of New Hampshire. i had a great time, it was awesome seeing everyone but the day after the party, i looked at their trash bins outside and saw piles of cans. Just so you can envision the picture, all the student owned-off campus houses at UNH have parking lots, a nice back yard, the works, but ultimately: an inaccessible back yard for a can hunter. So i saw these cans and the first thing i thought was “how are street collectors supposed to collect cans that are hidden in the back of the house?”

While was i was a little taken back, i realized that there probably wasn’t any homeless to roam the streets of rural New Hampshire, so i did a little trash picking and took two trash bags full back to Albany.

i don’t want to be indecent, but i think i may try a little experiment and empty my piles of cans in front of my house. i don’t think this would be degrading in anyway, but more a testament of the trickle down effect; more an act of opportunity rather than charity. As i mentioned a couple posts ago, no one wants to be a charity case, and i think depositing the cans myself and handing someone a wad of bills might be charitable but it loses the atmosphere of ability. Even on the level of can hunting, there is skill, if nothing more than persistence.

i don’t have class on Wednesday, i think i will throw all my cans off my balcony, sit on my couch and observe who comes to collect. If nothing else, at least i might get into a good conversation with someone (whether it be a can collector, a weirded-out neighbor or a pissed off landlord).

UPDATE; 3:00 October 28th: As any albany readers are aware, the weather is horrible today so i decided to wait for a nicer day for this project, which i am contemplating live blogging. More to come.