Ten Cents on a Round Trip

An empty drink bottle may look like trash, but it can bring money back. Some places have bottle deposit programs. A deposit is extra money paid when buying certain drinks. The amount can differ from place to place. This example uses a ten-cent deposit.

At a store, a shopper pays for a drink and adds ten cents for its deposit. The shopper keeps the bottle after finishing the drink. Throwing it away would mean losing the chance to get those ten cents back.

Next, the shopper takes the empty bottle to a return counter at the store. A sign has the heading “Bottle Returns.” Beneath a picture of an empty bottle, a caption says, “Bring it back empty.” The words help shoppers know where to go and what to bring.

A worker checks the bottle's label to see whether that bottle belongs in the program. Not every bottle does. If it belongs, the worker takes the bottle and gives the shopper a ten-cent refund. A refund is money given back.

The returned bottles are sorted, or put into groups, by material. Glass bottles go with glass. Plastic bottles go with plastic. They are sent away to be recycled, which means their material can be used to make new things.

The deposit gives shoppers a reason to return empty bottles instead of tossing them into the trash. The shopper gets money back, and useful material is collected. Those ten cents were not a prize or a gift. They were the shopper's own money taking a round trip.