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It used to be that I would stuff an old gym bag and pop the empty cans into a machine at one of the big-box stores in my neighbourhood. Ten cents a can is an incentive if you’re going there anyway.

Not about the content today but rather, about the container. I live in a small condo so I don’t have a lot of room to store hundreds of these. Remember the grandkids come over regularly so they can pile up.

I was surprised when the local grocery stores, one by one took out the machines that swallow up these cans. Puzzled, I took to the internet and discovered that the Provincial government has got in on the act.

I was going to the library anyway. A long awaited book of Hemingway short stories had come in. So, I swung the trusty gym bag over my shoulder ( empty cans are light, folks) and set off to find the new outlet… inlet.., what should I call it.

The one closest to my home was so new that it was unmarked so I drifted around until a kind clerk in an adjoining Post Office actually left his counter and led me a couple of doors down. Who says Canada Post doesn’t give good service?

However, although the machines were all set up and people with huge loads of bottles and cans were dutifully popping them into the maws of various machines, the young lady at the counter told me there was no more money left in the pay-out machine. A case of “ you can take it but you can’t dish it out”?

The logo looked familiar and I remembered seeing it in a little strip mall close to the library I was headed for. I swung my tote back onto my shoulder and set off. Sure enough there was another recycling centre. In a short time I transformed my junk into a five dollar bill. There was even a shiny modern sink for us to wash our sticky hands!

In chatting with the young clerk, I mentioned that the other franchise had run out of money. He told me that he had seen people redeem $10,000 worth of empties in two days! So when you see people hauling garbage bags of cans around you know they’ve realized “ there’s gold in them thar wheelie bins!”

At the library right next door I picked up my book and set off home. Ah, but I had to pass an open- air greenhouse and could not resist swapping my newly acquired fiver for lobelia. A good trade-in I think!

So, get on board and look for this logo

“ Consignaction” gotta love it!