Join Early Retirement Today
View Poll Results: Do you return cans/bottles for cash?
No, never 36 43.37%
No, but I used to 26 31.33%
Yes, I need the dough 14 16.87%
Yes, we don't have curbside recycle 7 8.43%
Voters: 83. You may not vote on this poll

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Do you collect and return cans/bottles for cash?
Old 09-25-2016, 07:18 PM   #1
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 8,968
Do you collect and return cans/bottles for cash?

I used to. I had a can crusher screwed to the wall and I would compress those aluminum cans and collect them in the garage and when the trash can was full I took then in and got my $20.

Not bottles or plastic, they went to the City recycle bin.

Yup, that's how frugal I was. Not anymore.

The girlfriend missed the can crusher and just tossed them into the bin. I thought this was funny since I had a trash can right in the bin for the crushed cans...yeah you can see where this is going...

I had a revelation! I am way too rich to be crushing cans anymore and shlepping them over to the depot to dump them and get them weighed and get my dough. It's just not worth it -
RobbieB is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 09-25-2016, 07:23 PM   #2
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
travelover's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 14,328
Here in Michigan, we have a 10 cent deposit on carbonated drinks and beer. I always return them for the deposit.
travelover is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-25-2016, 07:25 PM   #3
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
pb4uski's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Sarasota, FL & Vermont
Posts: 36,204
Our state has had 5 cent returnable deposits on cans and bottles for over 40 years... just what we do. Easy.

We also recycle plastics, paper, boxboard, cardboard, glass, tin, aluminum, aresol cans, egg cartons, plastic bags, etc. We also compost.

We typically have a small bag of trash each week.
__________________
If something cannot endure laughter.... it cannot endure.
Patience is the art of concealing your impatience.
Slow and steady wins the race.

Retired Jan 2012 at age 56
pb4uski is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-25-2016, 07:26 PM   #4
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,743
Our state has the 5 cents deposit as well. We donate all our cans and bottles as well as our neighbors' to a redemption center run by disabled folks. I collect them monthly from about 10 homes and deliver them to the center.
Corporateburnout is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-25-2016, 07:31 PM   #5
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 8,968
Here we pay a deposit at purchase and you get to redeem for weight, not per piece.

We have a legion of guys with bicycle towed trailers that make their dough every day sifting though the trash and pedaling to the recycle center.

I'm done. Either the poor enterprisers can have the dough or the city can. Either way is fine.
RobbieB is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-25-2016, 07:41 PM   #6
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 1,466
I posted no, however, do save them for a neighbor's son who collects them to raise $ for his Scout Troop.
TrvlBug is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-25-2016, 07:46 PM   #7
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
samclem's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: SW Ohio
Posts: 14,404
No deposits here (southern OH) on cans or bottles. All of ours go in the "mixed stream" recycling bin (AL, glass, paper, most plastics). We have to pay a few dollars extra each month to get our recyclables picked up, but that's what we do.
samclem is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-25-2016, 07:54 PM   #8
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Laurel, MD
Posts: 8,304
BIL does and he had a whole garbage bag full but recycle center would not accept because the pull tabs were left on so he gave them to a lady in line behind him who was happy to remove the tabs. He said he only did it for beer money.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum
__________________
...with no reasonable expectation for ER, I'm just here auditing the AP class.Retired 8/1/15.
jazz4cash is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-25-2016, 08:25 PM   #9
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 9,358
Our local Safeway gives us our deposit back on bottles. It is by the bottle not weight. I take the empties in when I go grocery shopping.
__________________
Even clouds seem bright and breezy, 'Cause the livin' is free and easy, See the rat race in a new way, Like you're wakin' up to a new day (Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether lyrics, Alan Parsons Project, based on an EA Poe story)
daylatedollarshort is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-25-2016, 08:42 PM   #10
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Lakewood90712's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 2,223
We have had curbside recycling for about 10 years.

Most of the recyclable cans and bottles are pilfered from the containers by street people. This pissess off many neighbors " Oh My, They are Stealing ". . Sometimes law enforcement is called

The street people who do this are living on the edge. It's money for food for many.

Good grief irate suburban neighbors, get a f-in life !
Lakewood90712 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-25-2016, 08:53 PM   #11
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
samclem's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: SW Ohio
Posts: 14,404
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lakewood90712 View Post
We have had curbside recycling for about 10 years.

Most of the recyclable cans and bottles are pilfered from the containers by street people. This pissess off many neighbors " Oh My, They are Stealing ". . Sometimes law enforcement is called

The street people who do this are living on the edge. It's money for food for many.
+1. As long as the "pilferers" are courteous (put everything back neatly, don't make a lot of noise at night, etc), it's fine with me. In fact, there are a lot of "scrappers" in my neighborhood that pick up large-ish metal that isn't allowed to go into the recyling bin (appliances, car parts, lawn mowers, etc). I put that stuff curbside early enough that they can get it, sometimes even with a sign regarding the condition ("FREE--mower engine seized--scrap) to save them time in knowing what to do with it. I'm happy to see them, they are always polite, and I have even helped them load stuff. There's no grey area about it (unlike the folks digging through the recycling bins), these folks are absolutely performing a public service.
samclem is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-25-2016, 08:56 PM   #12
Moderator Emeritus
W2R's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 47,468
I don't drink anything that comes in cans or bottles. I do not drink anything alcoholic, and although I occasionally drink a diet Coke at a restaurant, I never buy any kind of soda to drink at home.

What do I drink? Mostly tap water, but also reconstituted nonfat dry milk, coffee, and tea.

If I DID have cans or bottles to recycle, there is no deposit and they are put in our recycling bins at the street. Any financial gain from recyclables goes to the Parish (=county), not to the individual. Of course, one gets the "good for me, I did something good for the earth, and for the Parish" feeling but that's really all.
__________________
Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in its unshored, harbourless immensities. - - H. Melville, 1851.

Happily retired since 2009, at age 61. Best years of my life by far!
W2R is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-25-2016, 09:01 PM   #13
Full time employment: Posting here.
 
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Albuquerque
Posts: 839
We don't have a deposit on cans or bottles in New Mexico. And the curbside recycle does not accept glass - you have to take them to dumpsters located throughout the city that are often full. I rarely drink coke anymore and if I do it is usually at work where we have a recycle bin for aluminum cans. Unfortunately I have a garage full of glass bottles (mostly from when I drank beer which I don't drink much now) but recently learned that glass is the least recyclable material and has virtually no cost benefit to recycle. Also the closest dumpsters are in a bad area that is frequented by undesirable dumpster divers. So I am considering putting the glass in the trash.
ABQ2015 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-25-2016, 10:00 PM   #14
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 6,679
I return most of them here in New York, which has a 5-cent deposit on carbonated and non-carbonated soft drink containers. But a supermarket will take back in their machines only the brands they sell, and I buy soft drinks from different stores. Sometimes, one store sells the drink and another one doesn't, so the bottle machine rejects it. It isn't worth it to hang on to the rare bottle until I make my next trip to the other store. And sometimes, the UPC code gets rubbed away enough so the machine can't read it. In either case, I just toss the bottle.


Another annoyance is that it often takes more than one trip to the store to return the empties because there are people in there who have large garbage bags full of empties and tie up the machines for 20 or 30 minutes. If I have less than 5 empties, I go to the customer service desk inside the store. But I have often held onto empties for weeks until I could return them.
__________________
Retired in late 2008 at age 45. Cashed in company stock, bought a lot of shares in a big bond fund and am living nicely off its dividends. IRA, SS, and a pension await me at age 60 and later. No kids, no debts.

"I want my money working for me instead of me working for my money!"
scrabbler1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-26-2016, 04:37 AM   #15
Administrator
Gumby's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 22,923
I keep them in a barrel in the garage. Every few months, the church youth group has a can & bottle drive to raise funds for their mission trip, and I donate the accumulated cans in my garage.
__________________
Living an analog life in the Digital Age.
Gumby is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-26-2016, 06:22 AM   #16
Moderator
braumeister's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Flyover country
Posts: 25,155
Quote:
Originally Posted by RobbieB View Post
I used to. I had a can crusher screwed to the wall and I would compress those aluminum cans and collect them in the garage and when the trash can was full I took then in and got my $20.
I used to do that in my younger days. Not living in a state with a deposit, it was just about the value of the metal.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jazz4cash View Post
recycle center would not accept because the pull tabs were left on
That's just insane IMHO. I once visited friends who were aghast when I crushed a can. Their operation wouldn't accept cans that had even just been dented -- only pristine, whole cans. Never heard of removing pull tabs before.
braumeister is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-26-2016, 06:38 AM   #17
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Florida's First Coast
Posts: 7,654
No we give them to charity and/or recycle for no compensation.
__________________
"Never Argue With a Fool, Onlookers May Not Be Able To Tell the Difference." - Mark Twain
ShokWaveRider is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-26-2016, 06:43 AM   #18
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,743
Quote:
Originally Posted by ShokWaveRider View Post
No we give them to charity and/or recycle for no compensation.
You apparently didn't see my post. I collect ours as well as our friends and neighbors and donate them monthly to charity.
Corporateburnout is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-26-2016, 06:46 AM   #19
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Florida's First Coast
Posts: 7,654
Quote:
Originally Posted by Corporateburnout View Post
You apparently didn't see my post. I collect ours as well as our friends and neighbors and donate them monthly to charity.
I did...... This was the question I read and polled on. "Do you collect and return cans/bottles for cash? "
__________________
"Never Argue With a Fool, Onlookers May Not Be Able To Tell the Difference." - Mark Twain
ShokWaveRider is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-26-2016, 06:51 AM   #20
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,743
Quote:
Originally Posted by ShokWaveRider View Post
I did...... This was the question I read and polled on. "Do you collect and return cans/bottles for cash? "
I see.... I couldn't vote either because this option was not available. I think it should be added as other people donate them to boy scouts and other causes.

Besides I find it hard to believe millionaires return them for cash....
Corporateburnout is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Tiny bottles of Booze mickeyd Other topics 12 06-16-2014 07:14 PM
how many bottles and tubes in the tub mathjak107 Other topics 38 08-04-2009 04:25 PM
Polycarbonate Water Bottles tangomonster Health and Early Retirement 5 01-04-2008 08:35 AM
Can you collect unemployment benefit if you're fired? Sam Other topics 11 02-14-2007 08:15 AM

» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 03:18 AM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.