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I haven't done the statistical analysis yet but observation strongly suggests a binner's subliminal reading diet -- all the words on all the street furniture, signage and dumpsters they encounter in alleys -- consists principally of negatives: "No," "Never," "Don't," "Stop," with a rare "Please" thrown in to soften the blow.

Once the stats are in, physiologists will probably tell us this surfiet of environmental negativity in the back alleys makes for a toxic workplace -- binning-wise -- and declare us victims of a hitherto unknown type of PTSD: Pessimistic Traffic Sign Disorder Syndrome.

Street people, binners, parking attendants, traffic enforcement officers, even garbage and tow truck drivers may, in the near future, be in line for significant disability claims. In the meantime I take solace from the signage in the parkade pictured above.

[caption id="attachment_9598" align="alignnone" width="497"] Regional Recycling is on Evans at the east end and north side of Terminal -- Google Maps.[/caption]

The Regional Recycling Vancouver bottle depot is now open at 7 a.m. every day. The Encorp Return-It depot  still hasn't changed the hours on their Web site but word of the change is spreading among their customers. It was confirmed to me by an email from Regional Vancouver's manager Arlene Watson.

Regional's decision to begin opening one hour earlier comes ahead of another bottle depot's move into the area. United We Can is scheduled to move from the Downtown Eastside to Industrial Avenue any day now.

United We Can bottle depot hasn't moved yet

The United We Can bottle depot at 39 East Hastings Street is apparently still at 39 East Hastings Street even though yesterday ( January 15) was widely reported as the date it was to move to its new location on 455 Industrial Avenue.

I was sure I'd brought in a pathetically small load of returnable containers into Go Green, Mount Pleasant's friendly neighbourhood bottle depot. But I was prepared to trust the brand-spanking-new -- deep breath -- Point of Return (POR) Beverage Container Recycling Application touchscreen system -- ahh -- that handles the math and shows the customer a running total.

Halfway through I looked at the subtotal and thought, "Hmm. Aruba's nice this time of year. I might be able to make the plane fare."

Unfortunately this system has one glaring flaw: the operator can change the totals after they've entered them.

I couldn't complain. The final actual total would've gotten me to Surrey, B.C., with change to spare; but seeing as I didn't need to go to Surrey, I was left feeling pretty flush. Click the image to enlarge.

This is about 7:30 a.m., pointing west, down a back alley I usually go through twice a day -- look how tidy it is!

All back alleys in Vancouver are this clean (unless they're not). This alley is in the process of being washed by the rain and having some of its dumpsters emptied -- you can just make out the caution lights on the back of a garbage truck on the west side of Alder Street at the far end of the lane where it doglegs north rather than continuing straight on to intersect with Granville Street.

On the left is a brightly-lit building's gated parking enclosure containing garbage and cardboard dumpsters as well as a set of blue city recycling bins, which are full, darn it! On the right you can see the brown dumpster tucked into its un-gated alcove. Right beside it (see below), is another alcove for the recycling bins. Both buildings have the same building manager.

Each of the accessible dumpsters, from the brown one down to the end of the alley -- seven in all -- is wide open -- again, look how tidy it is! Welcome to Fairview.

[caption id="attachment_9009" align="alignnone" width="497"] Brunno can't bear to see a mess![/caption]

Multi-unit dwellers in Vancouver are supposed to sort their recyclable garbage into the appropriate city-supplied blue bins: "Containers," "Paper" or "Newsprint."

The city scales the number of each bin type supplied to buildings according to ongoing feedback built into the collection system. It all works well for the most part.

However, the system is not a good fit for cardboard which is mostly in the form of boxes, which mostly are too large for the bins. Even when the boxes are broken down, or flattened, most times they are still too large to fit in the bins. And if they fit it doesn't take many of them to fill up the blue bin.

At best, large flattened boxes get stuck between two of the bins like books between bookends. At worst unflattened boxes just pile up; sometimes on and around the blue bins, and not infrequently in the garbage dumpsters, which is exactly where they're not supposed to end up.

Speaking as a binner, I personally think each block should have a city-supplied dumpster for cardboard and paper. Statistical analysis could be used to determine the appropriate dumpster size just as it currently determines the number of paper bins supplied to buildings.

The only apartments in Fairview which do not regularly suffer the godawful mess of piled up cardboard boxes are the ones who either pay for private cardboard dumpsters or have conscientious building managers who not only flatten the boxes but slice them up so they fit in the blue bins. In the latter case, they still have to resort to "bookending" the cardboard.

The city could definitely do with improving this part of their recycling system. Click the image to enlarge it.

[caption id="attachment_8909" align="alignnone" width="497"] Close but no cigar. In fact I needed something the diameter of a cigar![/caption]

Christmas night at about 9 p.m. I was running my bike and trailer rig through the alleys of Fairview hunting returnable containers. I heard a loud, sharp sound, like a starter's pistol, and something between very fine rain and snow began to fall (Inuit mist?).

Coincidence right? I recognized the sound. I even knew which of three hose clamps on the hitch arm of my bicycle trailer had just snapped under pressure. It wasn't a life or death situation -- for me, but it was a suicide mission for the hose clamps -- that was the sixth clamp to break.

[caption id="attachment_8896" align="alignnone" width="497"] My "sleigh" on Christmas Day.[/caption]

Christmas Eve is a magical time -- it gets sooo quiet.

I imagine you could hear the beat of tiny hoofs and sleigh bells but there were none of those last night. More importantly there were no shopping carts clattering through the alleys -- not just the alley off my parkade -- any alley in the vicinity.

Usually one or two intrepid binners come through in the early morning hours between 2 and 4 a.m. They move rather slowly and haltingly but they still manage to generate their own kind of sonic boom.

This is partly the result of a known physical law: a shopping cart's audibility is inversely proportional to how full it is.

Three wine bottles bouncing around in an otherwise empty steel-wire shopping cart can make a helluva racket. And only some binners take the trouble to put a piece of cardboard in the bottom of their cart basket.

In the dead quiet of the night, with the sound bouncing back and forth off the buildings lining an alley... oh my!

Fully-loaded carts have much quieter, monolithic loads and the weight reduces wheel noise considerably, but they are never quiet.

Santa wasn't saying why he was inside a container blue bin -- perhaps some very lucky children will be getting bottles and cans for Christmas this year!

But since he's present, It gives me a perfect opportunity to join him (and Google Translate) in wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Joyeux Noël et une heureuse nouvelle année!
메리 크리스마스, 해피 뉴 이어!
Feliz Navidad y un feliz Año Nuevo!
Geseënde Kersfees en 'n gelukkige nuwe jaar!
圣诞快乐，新年快乐！
Feliĉan Kristnaskon kaj Bonan Novjaron!
Maligayang Pasko at isang masaya Bagong Taon!
Καλά Χριστούγεννα και ευτυχισμένο το Νέο Έτος!
मेरी क्रिसमस और एक नया साल मुबारक!
Buon Natale e un felice Anno Nuovo!
メリークリスマスそして新年おめでとう！
Giáng sinh vui vẻ và một năm mới hạnh phúc!
ਦਾਵਤ ਕ੍ਰਿਸਮਸ ਅਤੇ ਇੱਕ ਖੁਸ਼ ਨਿਊ ਸਾਲ!

[caption id="attachment_8739" align="alignnone" width="497"] Maybe I took too long to eat breakfast.[/caption]

The trick is to kick the larger piles of snow until I find it. If one of them turns out to be a hypothermic panhandler, I just hope my childhood St. John Ambulance training kicks in.

I'd say that binning through the back alleys of Fairview was "tough sledding" but frankly a sled would have been perfect. My rig was actually fine on straightaways and downhill; uphill was the only problem.

It's after 4:30 p.m. The temperature is 2° C. The snow has turned to a faint freezing drizzle. The main streets are glistening wet. I don't believe we reached our forecast high of 5° C. If we're too far on the wrong side of our forecast low of 3° C then the morning streets could be icy.

Maybe I'll sleep in. Oh, tomorrow is Saturday? Definitely I'll sleep in. Click the image to enlarge it.

Some text

[caption id="attachment_8716" align="alignnone" width="497"] The kindness of strangers. A warm feeling on a cold day.[/caption]

When I finally finished my breakfast and got off my butt to make some binning rounds, I couldn't help but notice that some thoughtful person(s) had given me the gift of food.

First I saw the package of salami tucked in the the back of my bike trailer. It was in a clear-plastic store bag. In the front of the trailer was another store bag containing more luncheon meat and a block of cheddar cheese. And beside the bag, bold as brass, a plastic jar of peanut butter. Thank you kind person(s). These are all excellent choices for a homeless person on the go.

All of this provender is brand new, near as I can tell -- I've yet to eat any of it -- I just put it in the fridge for later.

Meaning I just left it neatly on my bike trailer. I'm living in the fridge right now.

That's not a complaint; it's a handy fact. The food on my trailer is not in any danger of spoiling -- if peanut butter and salami can spoil. That means I can eat it when I'm hungry, and I don't have to eat it all at once. More importantly, I can hold off on the luncheon meat until I find some mustard.

Once I crack the seal on the peanut butter, I give it half-a-day -- one day tops

Ha! When I saw this in the distance, my brain did the math on "frame, glass and electrical cord" and added it up as "flat screen TV." Of course, by the time I was this close I knew it was a cabinet door.

Silly brains! Always trying to make order out of chaos. Click the images to enlarge.

[caption id="attachment_8469" align="alignnone" width="497"] A perfectly pallet-able way to make a buck in the back alleys.
[/caption]

These two lads from Geo Pallet are taking a drink break from trolling the back alleys of Fairview for returnables. But the returnables they're collecting are wooden shipping pallets rather than returnable beverage containers -- but the principal is the same.

Where bottles and cans can each be cashed in for between five- to twenty-cents, every pallet is worth two dollars said Joe, the fellow on the passenger side.

Joe told me the maximum load they could carry was 160 pallets -- $320. They had to already have at least 150 pallets, and honestly, I've seen flatbed trucks this size carry at least a third-again as many pallets, so I'd be surprised if they couldn't make room for 200-or-so.

Still, that's only $400 split two -- nearly three ways (there's the cost of the truck to account for). Like Joe said, they can make a buck but they've really got to hustle. Click the images to enlarge.

[caption id="attachment_8347" align="alignnone" width="497"] City salt truck at 9 a.m. heading east on Broadway Avenue[/caption]

It's snowing. Finally. The little flakes began drifting down on the corner of Broadway and Granville a little after 9 a.m. this morning -- two hours later it hasn't amounted to much, at least not where I am. I know the snow will be heavier in both the east and the south as the city rises in elevation but that doesn't help me down here near sea level.

True I've had problems with my new Nikon; it has dust in the lens and will be taking a trip to Japan soon. However the blurriness of this image is no reflection on the camera -- it's a reflection on the lid of a dumpster. Special thanks to the Fairview Chamber of "Merch" and the elves they dispatch to hand-polish the dumpsters. Click the images to enlarge them.

Encorp Pacific is testing a pilot program called "Return-It Express" at a Kensington Square location -- little more than a kiosk where people can drop off their pre-bagged containers.

Encorp Pacific, the industry-based group that oversees the Return-It bottle depot system, unveiled the new Express concept last year to depot operators, and described it as an important new way to further increase beverage container recycling rates. Encorp described the Express experience like so:

"Return-It™ Express will offer a fast "in depot" experience. Customers create an online account from home, collect empties in a standard blue recycle bag, bring them to an Express location, confirm their name and the number of bags on a touch screen and drop off the bags at the Express window. The customers Depot visit is complete."

Payment is through the customer's online account.

Encorp say the Express concept will increase container recycling, and points to the success of similar systems in Newfoundland, Maine and Oregon. The key to the Express depot is a major change behind the scenes: a central counting centre.

"The goal of the Count Centre is to remove the depots' labour requirement to sort and count single stream material by leveraging efficiencies and technology for greater performance."

Blah, blah, blah. Under this kind of scheme, recycling rates could increase dramatically, but so would costs. All the sorting that is currently done by customers for free, would become paid work. Is this where the binners come in -- as low-paid sorting labour? Because under this system they certainly can't be customers.

Another benefit Encorp envisions is reduced space requirements for depots (note that Encorp doesn't refer to bottle depots -- just depots).

"Our goal is to help increase potential revenue streams for depot owners and increase their profitability."

How could centralizing sorting -- which will actually add new expense to the system -- increase "potential revenue streams" and profitability?

• Removing bottle sorting from individual depots reduces redundancies and increases throughput, allowing depots to handle more potential volume.


• Removing bottle sorting frees floor space so depots can earn fees accepting more kinds of recyclables on behalf of  other B.C. Product Stewardship groups besides Encorp.

The 17 industry-based Product Stewardship groups are charged under legislation with implementing post-consumer recycling plans for a huge range of consumer products. Each group needs to have drop-off points. Naturally they're turning to the existing network of Return-It bottle depots. That's potentially a lot of money in handling fees for depot operators -- if they can make some room.

[caption id="attachment_8165" align="alignnone" width="497"] Go Green's Anthony Ryder totaling-up on the new touch screen system.[/caption]

Sixteen years of tradition came to an end today as the Go Green bottle depot stopped counting bottles manually and began using a touch screen computer system. The Point of Return Application has been used by most Return-It bottle depots for over a decade. It's designed to simplify the process of counting  a customer's bottles by allowing front counter staff to simply enter totals for pre-defined beverage container types. The system does the math and provides the customer with a detailed receipt.

[caption id="attachment_7912" align="alignnone" width="497"] Marco poses beside the poster for Rob's "Last Toast." The two were inseparable friends.[/caption]

Early Saturday morning the Go Green bottle depot hosted a memorial for Rockin' Rob, the long-time binner who passed away at the beginning of November. He was as well-liked as he was well-known. Word of the farewell get-together spread through the binning community for over a week after it was set for the first Saturday after welfare cheque day.

I often sleep in on Saturdays, though this Saturday I would have liked to have been up by 6 a.m. -- I wanted to have an early cup of coffee before attending the memorial for Rockin' Rob, scheduled for 8 a.m. Saturday morning at the Go Green bottle depot.

Didn't make it -- didn't get up until the early afternoon. I skipped stopping for coffee and got right to binning. In less than an hour I was rounding a corner into what was my fourth lane of the afternoon, and, at the rate thing were going, possibly my last before cashing in. Right at the first building beside the dumpster, a fat black garbage bag of bottles. The first three blocks of that lane were blockbuster binning. Two more blocks remained before I would basically be done and on my way to the bottle depot.

[caption id="attachment_7847" align="alignnone" width="497"] Rough visualization of an "instant" bottled depot.[/caption]

Every neighbourhood in Vancouver plays host to a variety of binners who fish the neighbourhood's stream of returnable beverage containers. Unfortunately not every neighbourhood can have a permanent bottle depot; because... there are no suitable locations, leases are too expensive, resident will allow it when you-know-where freezes over.

But every neighbourhood has an empty lot, or an empty storefront. I'd like to see single-day, pop-up bottle depots, which, with suitable advance advertising, could partially meet the need for a depot in any neighbourhood, rich or poor. Like, say... Kitsilano, which is still without a new bottle depot.

[caption id="attachment_7754" align="alignnone" width="497"] These new container bins are not off to a promising start.[/caption]

Since their introduction along West Broadway, I've seen very, very, few returnable containers in Encorp's new Return-It container bins; just lots of trash. Despite the blue paint job, and the blaring signage -- not to mention there being a grey garbage bin beside each one of them -- supposedly recycling-savvy Vancouverites are taking them for just one more place to throw their food wrappers, and drink cups, and dog poop.

To be fair, I've only sampled the bins along the stretch between Cambie Street in the east to Blenheim Street in the west. That's just under 5 km. A much shorter distance than Google first thought it was.