Getting Paid to Recycle???
I have been trying to write this post for some time now but never seem to find myself near where this place is located… although it’s really not that far from my house but kind of pain to fight the outbound traffic from downtown to get there.
Sonoco is a recycling center off of New Hope Road between New Bern Avenue and Poole Road located at 111 Rogers Lane. I had to pick up an invoice from that side of town today and thought… “Hmm… I should run by there because I always try to tell people about this place but then I can never remember the name.”
Sonoco… now that I have typed the name I should be able to remember it… recycles bottles, cans, paper and cardboard. The best part about them is they give you a small incentive to actually take your paper to be shredded and recycled. A small incentive being cash money.
I came across this place when I worked for a brokerage firm and I needed to clear out some old paperwork that dated back to the 70’s but I had to be certain that it was going to be destroyed. Someone told me that this place was HIPPA certified, although I’m not sure that they are, but if you stand there long enough… the paper that you dump gets scooped up and dropped in the shredder.
It’s a little confusing the first time you go so here are some pointers that I’ve learned over the years.
Pull up to the building… there is a little window and you tell the lady that you are a “cash customer”. She may have you give her some information the first time you go. Then you pull your car up on this giant scale that weighs your car. After the weight registers you’ll get a “green light” that alerts you that you can pull of the scale and then you drive around the backside of the building. I always take a lot of stuff so I always ask one of the guys in the warehouse for a big box I can dump everything in. They are running around in there but if you can grab one of them its truly helpful the first time you go. They are very nice and will show you what you are suppose to do… if you are in a hurry… there is usually a big pile of paper already there on the floor and you can dump away. Then when you are done you drive back up on the scale to get weighed again. After you get the green light again you pull back around to the little window where the lady will give you some money.
It’s never a lot of money… usually around $5.00 for a full carload but it’s convenient, it’s shredded, it’s recycled, and you get a little gas money out of being environmentally friendly… it’s a win win for me.
You can check them out online at Sonoco. They even have some recycling tips and sustainability facts on their website.
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irony that actually makes sense.
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The irony of buying gas with your “environmentally friendly” reward…