Bottle Deposit

Penfield Return Center - bonus: it's 2 doors down
from The Original Steve's diner!

I am no fan of the bottle deposit. It was instituted in the time before curbside recycling, as a means to motivate people to recycle their cans and bottles. Well, some of them. It has always been an arbitrary, hypocritical, and political endeavor. I don’t recall, for example, there ever having been a deposit on returnable wine or liquor bottles in states where I’ve lived and drunk… Different states slap varying deposits on different types of containers. But sticking to New York, the current law is a nickel deposit on the following: carbonated soft drinks, soda water, beer and other malt beverages, mineral water (carbonated and non-carbonated), wine products, and water which does not contain sugar, including flavored or nutritionally enhanced water. But not on: milk products, wine and liquor, hard ciders, tea, sports drinks, juice, drink boxes, or waters containing sugar.

So why is there a deposit on a bottle of Coke but not a bottle of Snapple? If the bill really is intended to motivate recycling, why not all cans and bottles? And is a nickel enough motivation to get people to take all their returnable bottles and cans back, instead of putting them in their curbside recycling (or trash)? Obviously not, or the economics of the deposit wouldn’t work. And obviously not, from the number of houseguests I’ve had who throw all their empties in our general recycling bin for me to pick out… Or all the bottles collected by the homeless and returned by the hundreds at Wegmans on East Avenue...

I recently got fed up with having to remember which bottles we purchased at Wegman’s vs. Walmart vs. Beers of the World. You have to know that, because if it isn’t sold at a particular store, it isn’t returnable there, either. And I got fed up with feeding my containers one by one into Wegmans’ machines, which takes about 20 seconds per container, and that’s if it doesn’t reject it unnecessarily (their tiny water bottles take particular finesse at inserting, and some of the items they sell get rejected no matter what, and you have to take them in to Customer Service). And I got fed up with having an odd assortment of bottles that didn’t come from Wegmans littering up the garage. So I finally went to the Return Center in Penfield, where not only do they take all returnable bottles, they also do the sorting for you, and I got my money for my 84 containers within a minute of entering the store, without getting my fingers sticky (some cans don’t get rinsed quite as diligently…).

I asked the young man how much the redemption center was reimbursed for returns, and he informed me it’s between 6 and 8 cents, depending on the type of container and manufacturer. Hm. The deposit math is somewhat opaque. It reminds me of Milo Minderbinder’s scheme in Catch 22, summed up in Closing Time: “…he contrived the fruitful and abstruse financial strategies for buying fresh Italian eggs from Sicily in Malta for five cents apiece and selling them to his mess hall in Pianosa for five cents apiece at a handsome profit that increased the squadron’s capital supply, in which everybody had a share…” Because all along the way, businesses and the State are making money.

Until 2009, beer and soda distributors kept all the net nickels of unreturned bottles. Since then, 4 of every 5 cents of unclaimed deposits is remitted to the NYS Department of Taxation. This scheme only works if there is leakage – if there are enough lazy people who don’t bother to get their deposits back. According to an article in the Democrat & Chronicle on 12/20/17, New York collected more than $102 million in 5-cent deposits that went unclaimed during the state's 2016 fiscal year, … (amounting) to more than 2 billion recyclable containers that went unreturned in a single year.” That’s an enormous additional tax on consumers. Somehow, I don’t think the program is motivating what it’s meant to be motivating… 

For other attempts at explaining this convoluted system, see:
https://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/11/new_yorks_bottle_deposit_creat.html
or
https://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/57687.html

Auburn Part I – Seward House Museum & Schweinfurth Art Center

My friend Krista and I had the best and most ambitious intentions of hitting all of the Auburn sights in one day, but after construction on I-90 delayed us by at least a half hour, we decided to take things as they came and to take the pressure off of ourselves. It was a new sensation for me!

We arrived at the Seward House Museum just as another couple were about to go on a tour. They, like us, had only put enough change in the meter for an hour, so between that and the fact that our docent had to start upstairs rather than down (another tour was still occupying the first floor), we were not only a bit rushed, but also out of order. Our docent was very knowledgeable and animated, but also a bit flustered by having to tell us about the assassination attempt on William Seward before telling us about how he came to live in the house in the first place, and all of his incredible accomplishments.

Seward was known for his
"dining room diplomacy"

Although I had visited the museum with my friend Nanette almost six years ago, I didn’t remember much about it or him, other than the highlights. Back then, she was already blogging about her adventures, but I hadn’t yet caught the bug. And looking back over what Nanette wrote (to see her blog click HERE), I can see that she captured many of the details better than I have the patience to! But her blog didn’t include photos, so their policy must have eased since then. 

Thomas Cole replica

Also, since then, the large and too-valuable-to protect Thomas Cole painting, “Portage Falls on the Genesee,” was replaced with a replica. The original, currently appraised at $18 million, is to be sold at auction, to help sustain the museum for future generations.

Seward was a man ahead of his time, not only in securing the purchase of Alaska, but in his views about the Constitution. This, on the base of the statue of him outside the museum: “The Constitution regulates our stewardship, the Constitution devotes the domain to union, to justice, to defense, to welfare and to liberty. But there is a higher law than the Constitution, which regulates our authority over the domain, and devotes it to the same noble purposes.”

Elderberry Pond

After our history lesson, we enjoyed a leisurely and delicious lunch at the Restaurant at Elderberry Pond and stopped briefly for Krista to buy some fresh eggs. On our way back to town to tour the Harriet Tubman Home, we took a detour to the Schweinfurth Art Center and its Made in NY 2018 exhibit (which runs until June 17). 

"Anomalous" by Eileen
Fioramonti. "I once desperately
wished I could mold and reshape
my body into a form that I
thought was more desirable.
This piece was created by a new
and more accepting me."

"The Question is Why" by Mary Giehl
"There are 250,000 people killed each
year from the AK47. Each of the 250
crochet flowers represents 1000 people."

Almost everything was for sale, and there were a couple of pieces that caught my eye, but not my pocketbook. Krista did, however, purchase a lovely piece called “Replaying the Dance” that perfectly captured the mood of a ballerina post-performance.

Between the exhibit and the gift shop, our short detour became a long one, so we decided to end our day there. Besides, we need to go back in June to collect Krista’s purchase, so we’ll plan to finish our exploring then…

Seriously?!

Steel Magnolias

I’d never seen the play that the movie was based on until this production at Geva Theatre. And even though I know the ending (because who hasn’t seen the memorable 1989 movie?), it still snuck up on me.

I was privileged to be able to attend both an open rehearsal for donors and a run-through of most of the second act with a couple of students under director Skip Greer’s tutelage. The donor viewing coincided with the cast and production team working out the transition from Scene 1 to Scene 2 in Act 2. Yes, they actually spent almost 45 minutes working on what will take less than a minute to get through when perfected. While that might sound tedious to observe, it was actually more fun that watching the actors run their lines. Not only do the stagehands need to move various articles around the stage, to indicate the passing of time, but the actors all need to do significant costume changes. Oh, and get into place back on stage, in the dark. Since there are stairs to be navigated, someone brought out glow tape and marked the landings, so none of the actors would trip and fall. Eve Plumb, who plays Clairee (the Olympia Dukakis role), practiced getting to her chair several times, and we could see her counting her steps: how many to the stairs, how many down the stairs, how many to the chair. During the scene change, we are entertained with a Cyndi Lauper song, and Skip as a radio announcer (I don’t think that’s giving anything away…). They rehearsed the scene change twice, working out details such as who enters from which door, precisely how a belt is to be buckled, and where the phone needs to be. Too soon, “dinner” was called (at 4:00…), and the actors all left the stage. It was truly fascinating!

Director Skip Greer, with various members
of the production team

The next day, I got to watch the second act run-through. There was only one flubbed line, and the scene transition was flawless. It might as well have been a dress rehearsal, as far as I was concerned. All of a sudden, at 4:00, which must be the witching hour, someone called “hold,” and all of the actors froze. Again, it was time for dinner break. The action was stopped at a particularly passionate point in the play, before the catharsis, and one of the actors remained on stage – it appeared she was still caught in that emotion and having trouble getting out of character to leave. It was then that I saw what a sensitive director Skip is – he went to her immediately, and while I couldn’t hear what he said, I could tell he was helping her let go. I didn't stay to hear his discussion with his students, but I imagine he is just as dedicated and thoughtful with them as with his actors.

I can’t wait for opening night and am sorry I won’t be able to see the show twice. It’s got a short run – only four weeks – and it can’t be extended because of the surprise return of Million Dollar Quartet. The show runs May 8 to June 3, and tickets are selling briskly – for more information visit: gevatheatre.org