Recycling People

I jumped off the bus at Friendship Square on Main Street. It was 5:42 and the bank would close at 6. I still had about three blocks to walk and a busy intersection to get across, and it was raining. I pulled on my hood and walked quickly.

I hate arriving at businesses just minutes before they close, but when it comes to my paycheck, I’m not going to wait till the next business day to get it taken care of. So, at ten minutes to 6 o’clock, I rushed into the bank and over to the table which harbored the deposit slips. Once the check was deposited safely into my account, and it was still a little before 6, I was happy to go back out into the rain and walk home.

Between my house and the bank is the Recycle Center. I like to swing by every once in a while and check the mixed paper bin for Coke boxes being recycled. These boxes usually contain unused Coke Rewards, because the person who bought the case of Coke did not realize how awesome Coke Rewards can be. With the points I collect, I get several free beauty and fitness type magazine subscriptions every year. It’s fun getting magazines for free!

I visited the Recycle Center. It was getting dark out and I was walking alone, so my mind started freaking out on me just a little bit, creating scenarios that I really didn’t care to think about. As I was walking into the parking lot, I pictured myself looking down into one of the bins and jumping out of my skin when I found someone sleeping there.

After checking the bins, no people inside and no Coke Rewards, either, I walked the rest of the way home with those thoughts about people living in the recycling bins still running rampant in my mind.

When I got to the house, my older sister told me how her day had gone. Included in her ramblings was the story of how she was walking along and turned to see what looked like a dead person back in the trees along the pathway. He was lying on his back and staring up at the sky. She wondered whether she should call 911, but decided against it. A little later on, when she returned by the same path, the man was gone. She assumed it was just a homeless person who needed to take a little rest.

That night, I dreamed that I was hiding out inside one of the recycling bins at the Recycle Center when two dead people were suddenly tossed in with me. Instead of screaming, I chose to remain silent, buried with the bodies inside the bin, playing dead.

It’s Saturday now. I spent most of my day being lazy. In fact, I took work off just so that I could be lazy today. I haven’t had a Saturday with nothing to do in a long time, because I normally spend them at the shop, working.

I woke up late, went grocery shopping, watched a movie, and took a long walk around town with my sister. On our way home, we were passing right by the Recycle Center again and I figured, why not stop by and see if I can find some points?

As we were walking into the parking lot, Ami mentioned that there was a car parked there. I scanned the entire area for any sign of activity – over by the book recycling bin, free buckets, across the lot at my mixed paper bins, glass, tin, cardboard, newspapers, and magazines. I heard a man’s voice coming from some distance away and wondered if maybe the car belonged to someone who worked at the Center. Or maybe the car had broken down and the owner left it there and found another way home.

I was wrong.

As I made my way toward the mixed paper bin, I noticed a head sticking up from the newspaper bin. I decided not to check that bin and walk past so that I could look in the other mixed paper bin, and it actually took me that long to realize the significance of finding a person inside of one of these bins.

It was a crazy thing inside my head just the day before, but now it was almost like a dream that came true. This person wasn’t homeless, or sleeping, or dead. In fact, I’m really not sure whether it was a man or a woman. I think it was a woman. And I have no idea what they would want inside the newspaper bin. Coupons, maybe? But, this was living proof that my fear from the day before and last night’s dream could turn into something real.

You CAN find people in the recycling bins. 


- Elise