That's a heck of a lot of bottles and cans.

My wife just brought our Clynk bags back to Hannaford in Hampden last week. She often throws them in the car when she's headed to the transfer station. When she came back over the weekend, she was saying she had a hard time getting them to fit because the inside of the drop-off location was absolutely stuffed to the rafters with bags.

I'm not 100% sure how she made it work, but she got them to fit. But we did have a casual conversation, wondering why it was like this. Was it staffing issues like everybody? Were there just more cans and bottles than usual? Well, to be honest, I found out it's a combination of all these things, according to WGME.

It's happening all over the state.

Apparently, this is an issue all over, with Clynk sites being inundated with returns. As you'd expect, there are a lot of issues making it the perfect storm. The biggest issue seems to be that redemption centers around the state are closing left and right. Just last year here in Brewer, JR Redemption, a 40-year fixture in the area, closed its doors forever.

And as you'd expect, staffing issues of all shapes and sizes are impacting this. With record low unemployment in the state, there just aren't a lot of people looking for this kind of work. It's a job-seekers market.

Some tips that could help out the folks dealing with this Clynk backlog, try not to overstuff your bags, and definitely make sure they're closed/tied. The more time they spend picking them up off the floor... You get the idea. Also, consider only leaving three bags at a time. this will also help. It ain't much, but every little bit helps.

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