Comments on: Is Recycling Aluminum Cans Worth Doing Anymore?

By: Jessica

Jessica — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 03:30:18 +0000

seriously, I remember crushing cans by stomping on them with my grandpa and he died when I was 5. I was a very small child too.

By: Dan Scott

Dan Scott — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 23:10:44 +0000

I live in California, and it is worth it!. My wife and I decided to start collecting cans and bottles. Not the ones in our house but the ones left carelessly to trash our neighborhood and places we frequent. A typical 30 minute city outing, to the store or what not, generally yields 10 – 20 of cans, plastic, or glass bottles. Mind you we are not scrounging around trash cans, we simply pull over while driving to pick up cans left beside the road; or while out on a walk picking up visible items. We don’t go out of our way or deviate (while driving), if it is visible, and in range we grab it. We also take it upon ourselves to ask our sons school, our church and the YMCA , if we can take their recyclables. My wife has also become the office recycle person. In general we add about 1000.00$ a year to our income just from “smart” recycling. Take it from me recycling can become very addicting.

It is mind boggling, when you think about the sheer amount of recyclable materials in our world. When taking my kids to school I see the local jogger with a bag of cans, a transient with a dog and a bag of cans. It seems no matter how many people are recycling, I still find my own share, everyday.

Do the math again, .05 cents for every can bottle or (non wine) glass 24 ounces.

By: teafor2

teafor2 — Tue, 01 May 2012 19:58:43 +0000

I learned to drive a manual transmission by smashing cans with the car.

By: Little House in the Valley - Saving with a Plan

Little House in the Valley - Saving with a Plan — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 02:15:31 +0000

[...] Recycling aluminum cans and bottles take less energy to turn back into cans and bottles. Saving energy is important, not only on your pocket book in the long run (think about your overall energy fees you pay), but for the environment, too. [...]

By: cb

cb — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:01:59 +0000

How about the money it saves in energy costs? 95% less energy to recycle aluminum than to mine bauxite ore. Aluminum cans are endlessly recyclable.
As kids we collected newspapers once a week to take to a buyback center. Taught us about responsibility and the environment.
It would be extremely valuable for your kids in ways other than just the $5 per hour – donating to a charity like the FD, protecting the environment, fundraising, etc. They could sponsor an endangered animal with the money.

By: Money Reasons

Money Reasons — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:08:04 +0000

What a great story! Thanks for sharing!

I have a post called getting paid to lose weight, and your comment fulfills that post too!

Kudos to you sir, and thanks again for sharing your clever system

By: David

David — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:38:49 +0000

Well I have a little different perspective. First to answer the question about why you crush – the recycler I take my cans to pays a few cents more per pound.

I live in a suburban area, and as I can no longer jog for exercise due to a bad ankle, I go for long walks. I was amazed at the number of aluminum cans in the ditches. I started taking empty pet food bags with my on my walks and walking until I had the bag filled with crushed cans (I would crush them as I picked them up).

About 4 times a year I take a truckload of cans to the recycling center. One year, when aluminum prices remained high throughout the year, I made several hundred dollars and accumulated enough cash to make a mortgage payment.

So, while getting some exercise, I have made quite a bit over the years. While the “per hour” pay isn’t much, it adds up to some serious dollars if you are a saver.

It reminds me of hauling hay when I was younger. 10 cents a bale doesn’t sound like much, but over the course of hay season, if you save what you earn, you’ll have a nice little savings at the end of the year.

By: Rich

Rich — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:23:12 +0000

Why are you crushing the cans? I just take them in the way they are. It’s more volume but I don’t waste time processing them. The recyclers do their own crushing.

I am in Calfiornia where it is wort the effort to recycle. I run a summer camp and we use the money for kids that cannot afford camp. Usually we return about $ 500 in a year. I am using paid staff to prepare the loads so all we do is sort.

By: mstallk

mstallk — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 20:05:04 +0000

MR- I liked you section on scams by people taking cans over the border. I went to the University of Toledo and my roommate and I would collect cans we saw lying around and take them up to Adrian MI. We made about $100 bucks/month each and helped clean up campus a little.

By: Margaret

Margaret — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 17:29:56 +0000

try putting the cans in your driveway and running over them!