Pella Can and Bottle Redemption Center

05/22/2026

05/17/2026

After Friday’s show I thought we would have a super fun show today!!

We’re going to call this….The Sterling Show!

A week or so ago a young man came into the redemption center and stepped up to the lane I was working in and introduced himself as Sterling and told me that he was in 8th grade. He was working on a school project and chose to research sustainability. He asked if he could come work with me and learn about the bottle bill. I told him of course and a few days later he came in ready to work.

I walked with him to the back rooms and asked what he knew about the bottle bill. Sterling did his homework!! He gave me an excellent explanation about all things can redemption. I showed him where we put the bags of containers we sorted and talked a little about my business.

I asked him what he would like to do and he asked if he could sort containers. He grabbed a bag and took it up front to a lane and before I could show him where things went he was reading labels and sorting containers like he had been doing it for months.

Sterling’s Mom came back to pick him up and he asked if he could work a little longer and she said yes. For almost an hour this young man was sorting containers and taking bags to the back of the building to put them away like a professional.

When his Mom told him it was time to go he looked up at me, did a mike drop and said, “My job here is done!”

Thank you to the teacher who assigned this project to Sterling, it gave me the opportunity to learn from a sweet passionate hard working young man.

And to Sterling, thank you for the wonderful opportunity to work with you! If it was my decision I would give you an A+ on your project!!

05/16/2026

Sheri’s s**t show……Larry you jinxed me!! 😂🤣

I had a couple of people that came in yesterday and asked me why my s**t show has been quiet. I said it’s been quite mellow lately.

Fast forward to today….all I’m going to say is:

The Police will be called if you:

Throw a full blown temper tantrum in my lobby.
Tell me how to operate my business while screaming at me because we are not fast enough for you.
Freak out on me because you want to get rid of the bottle bill.

I’m hoping with the grace I gave him today by not pressing charges that he will never do this kind of thing to anyone else.

A huge thank you to the Pella Police Department for their immediate response and ability to calm down this man down and resolve the situation.

05/07/2026

Sheri’s s**t show….Oh the things we find in drop bags.

I know this is a long shot. If you lost your can koozie or your tv remote we might have them.

Just stop in and we’ll have it here.

05/05/2026

WE ARE OPEN DURING TULIP TIME!!

Monday through Friday 8:30-4:30

As a matter of fact this is one of the slowest weeks of the year! Best time ever to bring in your cans because we are on the south side of town so there is hardly any traffic!

Yes! I took a picture of these gorgeous tulips uptown last week.

04/30/2026

Sheri’s s**t show….want to know what smells worse than a dead animal?

This crap!! It doesn’t have a deposit on it and it is the most disgusting smelling thing I have ever had in my business. I’m not sure how anyone could actually put it in their car like this and not puke.

PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE!
THROW IT AWAY AT HOME!!

🤢🤮🤢🤮🤢🤮🤢🤮🤢🤮🤢🤮🤢🤮🤢🤮

04/28/2026

Sheri’s s**t show…..a few bad apples require changes to my policy.

THIS DOES NOT AFFECT THE DROP BAG PROGRAM WHERE WE ESTIMATE, PAY YOU, AND GIVE YOU A CLEAN BAG.

I am going to profusely apologize for having to make this change. However, the past week I have had 4 precount orders that were not accurate or had multiple containers that do not have deposits on them.

Soooo…..if you precount your containers before you bring them in I will now require you to have your containers in a clear bag AND you must separate your containers by:
Cans (aluminum)
Plastic containers (12, 16.9, 20, 24, ounce)
Plastic 2 liters

If they are not in clear bags you will be required to dump them into our clear bags. This makes it so I can see what is inside the bag.

If your counts do not look accurate we will hand count them if we have time or offer you a reasonable estimate.

If you have questions about this free feel to call me at 641-628-2026

04/23/2026

Sheri’s s**t show….please don’t intentionally crush them.

I had a very kind gentleman come in yesterday who told me he helped me out and thought I should ask everyone to do what he did…..he crushed all of his 2 liters to save space.

PLEASE DON’T CRUSH YOUR CONTAINERS.

The distributors that pick me up….Coke, Pepsi, Budweiser etc. require the containers to be “whole” and capable of going through an automated conveyor system with a bar code reader. This also means please don’t take the labels off of them.

Also….please dump your containers out!! If the liquid goes through the conveyor system it causes issues with the belts and the reader which also can keep us us from getting paid.

Thank you for helping us out! We truly appreciate it!!

04/22/2026

Sheri’s s**t show fundraiser style….

It’s always a great day when we can give a check to a fundraiser we’ve done in the sheds out front of our building!!

Thank you to all of you who donated containers to Lake View Camp!! We gave them a check for $1129.60 yesterday.

Although the sign is down for now you can still drop off containers inside the building for the camp. Just let us know!! We keep a running total all year round for all of our fundraisers.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

04/09/2026

We will be in Altoona this Saturday if you would like to support the Southeast Polk Post Prom!!

04/04/2026

Sheri’s s**t show…..back from vacay 🏖️😁🏝️

First I want to thank all of you that came in Friday. It was a record breaking day and every single person that came in was patient with us while we were trying to get you in and out in a reasonable time. Most of you thanked us and appreciated what we were doing. I can’t tell you how much that means not only to me, but my employees who work very hard.

And then….there was Thursday. Mind you we had just opened after being closed for a week and were getting the lanes set up so I could have an employee up front counting customers. A man came in and within 3 minutes was freaking out on us because we weren’t fast enough for him……well, most of you know by now how I feel about rude customers.

Yep!! I told him to pick up his cans and leave. He stormed out and left the cans. Soooo I bought cookies for my employees. Thanks for the cookies!!

We return to regular business hours next week.
Monday through Friday 8:30-4:30