I wonder how much money I lose a year because of curb-side recycling. Whenever you purchase a bottle which you can return later to recycle, you pay a deposit. So, each can of Coke I get, I leave a $.05 deposit. But, I put all my recyclables into a bin, and put it out to be picked up (which is a service I pay for).

The service certainly beats saving bottles and cans and driving to the recycling center. But, I end up paying for a service to recycle, and never get back my deposit money. Yet, I did what I was susposed to by recycling.

I can hear someone saying "So, just go do it yourself!" I could. But, then I'm adding more work to recycle on myself by adding yet another bin. Plus, you need enough to recycle to make the trip worthwhile to the recycling center (it could cost me more in gas to get there than what I'd get back).

I just want all my nickels and dimes back!