The Value of Five Cents: Mismatched Meaning Making at a Bottle and Can Redemption Center

Abstract

Drawing on a year-long ethnography at a non-profit bottle and can redemption center, this study examines the mismatched meanings ascribed by recyclers (or “canners”) and redemption center management to recycling work. Canners primarily make sense of the work for the money it puts in their pocket and for its autonomous work conditions. By contrast, management imbues canning with moral meaning, linking recycling to social, environmental, and spiritual good. I argue that disputes over organizational policies can arise simply from mismatched interpretations of the work’s meaning, and not necessarily from overt coercion from management nor resistance from canners. In addition, canners and management view their relationship divergently: canners view their role as employees and management as their employers, while management see themselves as social service providers and canners as service recipients. I suggest that the relationship between canners and management is thus ambiguously constructed by both parties, leading to unintended consequences in opposition to the non-profit’s mission.