Local can and bottle redemption center navigates post-COVID reopening

MT. PLEASANT - When the Mt. Pleasant Can and Bottle Redemption Center reopened its doors in early May, the business began receiving unprecedented numbers of cans and bottles.

'It was overwhelming,” Gretchen Buck, the center's manager, said.

On a regular seven-hour day, the center takes in between 44,000 to 80,000 items. Following the six-week shutdown due to the pandemic, it was receiving closer to 120,000 in just several hours.

'There were videos on Facebook of people driving around the block, trying to find a parking spot,” Buck said.

Initially, Buck wasn't sure whether it would be 'flooded or if it would be dead” as the center reopened. When the influx of materials became too much to handle, the center had to reduce its hours to keep on top of everything coming in. The center didn't return to full hours until July and is currently still not accepting glass bottles.

'We just don't have the floor space,” Buck said. With other companies not yet back at full capacity, pickups have become less frequent, which means the center can house fewer cans and bottles at any one time.

In addition to the unexpectedly large influx of materials, the manager said the center could not keep up with paying people for their materials.

'Money was a big thing. We were going through it so fast, we had to sit and wait for checks to come,” she added.

For every can or bottle a person brings in, the center receives 6 cents from companies who pick up the recycled materials and pays collectors 5 cents per item up front.

Paul Thompson, an employee who usually helps count cans in the front area, said 'business was so busy,” but the center slowly got back on top of sorting the materials.

'We're organized, so it took a little time, but we're pretty much back to the way it was,” he said.

With the pandemic, Buck said there hasn't seemed to be clear guidelines on how the center should continue operating.

'We don't really know what the rules are. There are so many people coming in and out of here. You can't really social distance,” she said.

The manager added she learned after the fact the center could have potentially stayed open during the initial six-week shutdown.

'We just thought that since they stopped the Bottle Bill that we were supposed to [close]. We later found out that since we're a private business, we're not sure we actually had to,” she said.

Many of the employees of the center have opted not to wear masks while working but are using gloves and frequently washing their hands, practices they were following even before the pandemic.

'The CDC says it's safe,” Buck said in regards to employees choosing not to wear masks.

'Very few people wear masks when they come in,” she added of those turning in bottles and cans.

Ashley Liles, who has worked at the center on-and-off for the past eight years, said she wasn't concerned about the virus, even though her job may require her handling materials touched by other people.

'I love it. There's nothing else I'd rather do. It may be dirty, it may be nasty, it may be hot. But I love my co-workers,” she said.

Liles added the employees are always wearing gloves and doing their best to follow all other guidelines.

'Just wash your hands and cover your cough. We all use gloves, and when we get home we all shower and use our antibacterial soap, keeping good social distance. I'm not too scared of it. It's just commonsense,” she said as she sorted through bags of pop cans and bottles.

Thompson echoed Liles and said all employees already practice good hand hygiene.

'We have hand sanitizer, we wash our hands frequently,” he said, 'Those masks won't stop COVID so I'm not going to wear one.”

Before the coronavirus, Buck never had to shut the center's doors. The closure, coupled with recent attempts at the state level to eliminate the Bottle Deposit Bill, the closure was 'a little scary” for Buck and her employees, as well as those who rely on bottle and can redemption for some extra cash.

'A lot of communities use the Bottle Bill to raise money for things and for fundraisers. It does a lot of good. For other people, they need that money to pay their electric bill,” she said.

'Some will pick them out of trash cans to just help them out. I think people did suffer,” Buck added.