Return of aluminum can oba-san*

Tuesday in our neighborhood is can and bottle day.

That is, trash and recyclables are collected by category: burnable refuse on Mondays and Thursdays; newspaper, magazines, and cardboard on Wednesdays; and non-burnables on Fridays. Tuesday is when we deposit our cans and glass bottles in the corner recycling bin.
(If you've got anything big to dispose of - a countertop gas stove or bed frame, for example - these are collected by appointment and for a separate fee.)

Anyway, this little old woman with the elderly Japanese agrarian hunchback has been making the Tuesday rounds lately. The clanking of her can-rustling a block away gives me time to mosey to the window. There I watch her top off the first of her two garbage bags and begin filling the second with empty cans.

What is she doing with all these empties?

I'll admit I don't know the ultimate fate of our recyclables once the truck collects them. But I haven't heard of any can-redemption-for-cash system for ordinary citizens, either. Never even seen a Golden Goat or other machine of that ilk around these parts.

Maybe she's planning to assemble an Earthship. (Nod to Safety Neal, whose post on Earthbags
primed the connection to environmentally friendly building. More on Earthships can be found at earthship.org.)

*oba-san in this case means 'lady'. Can lady.