recycling AL cans

RatLabGuy

RatLabGuy

You look like a monkey and smell like one too
Joined
May 18, 2005
Location
Churchville, MD
Is it worthwhile to save aluminum drink (soda) cans to recycle yourself for cash?
I know the per-can mass is very small...

We've found its generally cheaper to buy 12-packs on sale than 2-liters; I bet in a week the family goes through 24-36 cans.
We have curbside recycling and recycle everything.
(actually the total mass we put in trash is prob 1/3 what gets recycled these days)
But I could easily withhold the cans, put them in a separate bin, and when I have a whole garbage can full take that to the local metal recycling place. But is it actually worth the time/effort/gas to do this?
 
I do it.....50 cent a pound right now, i can remember when it was up to 77/lb.....the more you can save up the better obviously....its always better than givin em away
 
Get you a can crusher, something you can put them in,(re-usable) and save as many as you can store before you take them off. Make the trip to the recycle center part of something else, to offset the cost of fuel. Then it can be profitable. We save our cans. Like you I buy the 12 packs too, when they are on sale.
On a side note, the 12 packs used to be 4 for 11 bucks, this time they went up to 4 for 13! Big jump! But still cheaper and less waste.
 
Some yards wont take them if they are crushed in those cheap can crushers because people put other things in them to make more weight.

If you can get your neighbors to give you their cans too you will make a load faster.
 
TheWarBeast said:
Some yards wont take them if they are crushed in those cheap can crushers because people put other things in them to make more weight.
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Why would the type of crusher matter? they just want to see them really, really flat?

i've been meaning to buy a crusher anyway, as it is our 2 recycling bins are overfilled by the end of the week.
 
I know of 2 yards who were getting nothing but cans with stuff in them that were crushed top to bottom. IF they are flat they take them and if they are uncrushed they will take them. They also know about what the cans should weigh and if it is off a good bit they refuse the whole thing.
 
Want to save even more money? Drink water. It saves you on the front end because it's nearly free, and it saves you on the back end with medical and dental bills! How do you fawkers stay so skinny drinking that much soda?!?
 
i save cans at home and at work last time i took a load i had around 130lbs that got me about 80 bucks.... that was crushed cans four in a half plastic 55 gallon drums
 
catfishblues said:
Want to save even more money? Drink water. It saves you on the front end because it's nearly free, and it saves you on the back end with medical and dental bills! How do you fawkers stay so skinny drinking that much soda?!?
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Bah. Water is for pansies.

Actually, we do. probably 30% water, rest misc drinks.
But to the point - 95% of the time it's sugar free. And not only soda comes in cans... also tea, "fruit drinks", lemonade...
 
cgm147 said:
i save cans at home and at work last time i took a load i had around 130lbs that got me about 80 bucks.... that was crushed cans four in a half plastic 55 gallon drums
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People come through our neighborhood the night before trash day and clean everybody's bins out. So I figured there must be some money in it... but four 55 gallon drums of crushed cans is a tremendous amount of cans.... and $80 is less than I expected.
 
I recycle cans for my grandson's cub scout pack. They have a lot of kids from the inner city who can't afford uniforms, trips, etc. The place I take mine gives 65 cents a pound. I gather cans from 5 different locations, so every month I take a large quantity to cash in. Also, years ago, I used to get aluminum cans from the place I worked and cash them in. I was able to buy race gas for my stock car. It really does help.
And finally, you're helping the environment.
 
Got me there! lol.

OK some math here.
Looks like typical weight of an empty can is ~.55oz, varying reports on that.
so that's roughly 30 cans = 1 lb/
At, say, $.60/lb, you'd need about ~16.7 lbs or 500 cans just to make $10.

That's a lot of cans. About 10-12 weeks of our family consumption.
I can see how collecting en masse (work etc) would add up though.
 
We saved up cans for many months, had a big ole box full. Got like $7 for em and said screw it, started throwing them in the recycling again.
 
If I had all the beercans I emptied over the years and recycled them all at once I think I'd be rich!! Or be able to afford a new liver!
 
We crush them, store them in 6gal buckets, and wait until there's 50# (over 40# is higher @ Alantic or whatever the name is this week)... currently have 6-7 full & another 1-2 full needing crushed.

NOT a big deal to drop by there after work, but would save more/go less often if it was.
 
Caver Dave said:
We crush them, store them in 6gal buckets, and wait until there's 50# (over 40# is higher @ Alantic or whatever the name is this week)... currently have 6-7 full & another 1-2 full needing crushed.
NOT a big deal to drop by there after work, but would save more/go less often if it was.
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wow, 50# is ~1500 cans. That's a lot of cans.

You know, I wonder, out of 50 lbs of crushed cans... if you have a good half pound thats actually leftover backwash, ants, and dried droplets of corn syrup...
 
Corn syrup is nature's honey.
 
RatLabGuy said:
wow, 50# is ~1500 cans. That's a lot of cans.
You know, I wonder, out of 50 lbs of crushed cans... if you have a good half pound thats actually leftover backwash, ants, and dried droplets of corn syrup...
Click to expand...

True, 1500 cans is a lot of cans. Takes a long time to save. If you don't save them, then you get, ummm nothing!

No junk in our cans, Leslie makes me wash them so they don't attract ants, Bee's and so on.

Last time I took cans off was when they had the recycle day at Rides of Conover.

Might be about time to get rid of them again.
 
I keep mine in contractor trash bags under my shed. Let a small barrel fill in the shop and then dump em in the bag. It takes forever, year or more. But it is money I otherwise wouldn't have.

As mentioned earlier I don't make a special trip and scrap the cans when I take a load to the yard.
 
TheWarBeast said:
Some yards wont take them if they are crushed in those cheap can crushers because people put other things in them to make more weight
Click to expand...

My yard has no issues taking them in any form... IIRC, they actually shred them and have a junk (rocks/lead/steel/concrete :shaking:) trap in the bottom that is removed from the starting weights.

I store the crushed (crappy HF crusher smooshes them to about 3/4"-1") cans in 6gal buckets (old Jasons Deli pickle buckets) that stack very well or will fit nicely under the Moss. How many I keep is only dictated by how many buckets I have or how many times I have to move them around in the garage :rolleyes:

Since they are stored inside (mostly), there's little issue with ants/bugs, outside of the occasional spider...... and all are dismembered in the yards shredder. :lol:
 
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