Do you collect and return cans/bottles for cash?

[Just_Steve]

Redemption center is on the way to stores takes about 60 seconds to drop and get paid, nickel deposit on just about all beverage containers.

 

[FUEGO]

We don't pay deposits so there's no real money in anything other than aluminum cans. We rarely buy soda or other beverages and when we do it's in the plastic 2L bottles (that end up in the recycling). Beer is almost always in the bottle (usually the $13/12 pack fancy stuff) so it gets recycled too.

On rare occasions where we go low brow for beer in a can (oh the horrors!!) or buy a 12 pack of canned soda we will save the cans for DW's father who takes them in for scrap $.

 

[Midpack]

We probably should, but we don't. At least we ALWAYS recycle cans/bottles, even if that means bringing empties home from stores/restaurants that don't offer recycling.

 

[jazz4cash]

First summer intern job in college was at a can manufacturing plant so I developed some interest in packaging.

Most beverage cans now days are steel vs. aluminum which generally has lower scrap value.

Recycling divisions of large waste disposal companies are struggling to be profitable these days. Their business model was to charge homeowners a fee to cover the cost of collection and make a huge profit selling scrap after processing the recyclables. Scrap values have tanked so they are just hanging on. Our county tax bill includes the cost for waste collection (trash and recycle) which is $16/month for weekly collection.

 

[Katiek]

For years I rarely drank anything with a deposit since I mostly drank iced tea. I'm trying to drink more water now, and get lot of flavored seltzers. I mostly just put them in the recycling bin for trash pickup, but I'd be happy to donate them if there was a place I could do so easily.

 

[Walt34]

Growing up we used to for the 2¢ and later 5¢ deposits on glass bottles in MD, but I don't think they have the deposits on the plastic bottles. It's been a while since I lived there so that could have changed.

WV doesn't require a deposit on bottles of any type that I know of. They also don't have curbside recycling - you have to make a separate trip to the recycling center or the trash pickup company will take recyclables for an extra $10/month.

 

[RobbieB]

Here we have 3 curbside bins and we pay for all of them.

1 for trash, 1 for recycles and 1 for yard waste.

The trash goes to the landfill, the recycles get recycled and the yard waste gets ground up to mulch which the city sells.

It was with glee that I stopped crushing cans one day, unscrewed that crusher from the wall where it had been for the last 20 years and tossed it in the trash.

Yup, frugality dies hard -

 

[Beldar]

So I can wax nostalgic...

We returned Coke and beer bottles (by the case) back in the 70s & 80s when they were glass and had a deposit. Now everything (at least where we live) is disposable and we just toss it. But now it's just 2l bottles.

I have a few of those old waxed cardboard beer cases which are used for storage. I've seen them at Antique Swap meets and they are consider collectable! Makes me feel ~old~.

_B

 

[Walt34]

It was with glee that I stopped crushing cans one day, unscrewed that crusher from the wall where it had been for the last 20 years and tossed it in the trash.

Wouldn't it more properly have gone into the recyclable bin?

 

[RobbieB]

Nah, you are not supposed to put "scrap metal" in the recycle bins. Just cans, bottles (plastic and glass), paper (mail, newspapers, magazines), cardboard, that sort of stuff.

The can crusher was made of steel with a wood handle and should rust out and rot in the ground.

 

[fh2000]

I am in Los Angeles. Each family has 3 large bins: black for trash, green for vegetation, blue for recycles.

But I do keep all bottles (mostly Costco water bottle) and occasional cans. I keep about 10 cardboard boxes from Costco and store these bottles. Once they are full, I take them to recycle station in nearby Ralph supermarket parking lot. A lot of people feed the machine one by one, but I sell them by weight, with large discount I was told. They give me a voucher and I would go in Ralph to buy some fruits.

I only have to do this once in a while. Not sure if it is worth the effort getting that $30 dollars every few years, but it is something.

 

[RockyMtn]

no deposits here...everything goes in the recycle bin.

Used to make a lot of money as a kid in Oregon scrounging through trash looking for bottles/cans that had a deposit. Messy but lucrative!

 

[Taxman59]

We started to collect aluminum cans for a fund raiser for Cub Scouts. We collected about $15 per month to help support our Pack. After the boys gout out of Scouts, it was so ingrained in us we kept it up (though we no longer stop on the road to collect cans in the street!). We have a garbage can full of semi-crushed cans and 2 garbage bags of cans, and DW and I will take them over to the recycling center later this week and collect the ~$25 and use that to pay for a nice lunch and dessert this weekend!

 

[wolf]

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 -

Have the same can crusher screwed in my (Calif) wall too!

Each year, I planned on just dumping the cans and plastic in the blue
dumpster, but when I visit the local recycle, (next to local grocery store),
and collect $35-50, once a year, I figure, easy money.....so I continue
for another year.....

 

[GravitySucks]

Broke DD never returns bottles and cans. DGFs broke kids never return bottles and cans. The people that don't need the nickels always make the run to the redemption center.
I will donate my stash to whatever youth group comes around to collect, and if there's a line at the recycling center I'll give my cans to someone who looks like this may be their career, but usually I like going and talking to the owner of the redemption center. Also I use the cash back to justify bumping up to a good IPA instead of the twelve pack of Genny.

 

[Sunset]

+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.

+1
They have saved me money as our garbage collector charges $25 per appliance for the garbage !
I put it out the day before collection and it's gone in 2-4 hrs.

 

[Tom52]

Our state has a 5 cent deposit tacked on at time of purchase for beer and soft drink cans and bottles, so yes, I return them for the deposit. I don't understand why the plastic water bottles are not included, maybe it was because the deposit laws have been around since before drinking water was sold in bottles. I would prefer no deposit on anything as it is a pain to return them. We do recycle all tin cans, plastics, newspapers, etc. even though local garbage service does not pick up any recycle material at curbside. Garbage service will only recycle what you shlep to them and sort it into the appropriate containers for them. Lazy b*States.

 

[brett]

When we lived in a house in a residential neighbourhood we would save up our bottles, cans, etc for the scouts, soccer teams, whatever. Happy to give them up.

Now that we are in a condo we take them to a recycle bin at a nearby shopping center. But we leave them in a separate bag beside the bin. There are several homeless folk who come along to collect them.


Where we live there is an environment deposit charge on most containers...including milk, tetra packs, wine, beer, etc.

 

[Corporateburnout]

Now that we are in a condo we take them to a recycle bin at a nearby shopping center. But we leave them in a separate bag beside the bin. There are several homeless folk who come along to collect them.

Do you mean you don't need to add the $10 to your portfolio like some other millionaires?

 

[PoF]

When we lived in Michigan, those were all dimes, so I returned them all. I hated it, but I despised throwing dimes in the Recycling even more.

Now, we crush cans and throw them in a trailer where the school collects them to bring to the scrap metal place for small change.

Everything else that can be recycled is recycled.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Do you mean you don't need to add the $10 to your portfolio like some other millionaires?

I can't speak for others, but for me it is not the single $10 in a year that makes a difference in my retirement lifestyle. But it is the cumulative impact of 2,000 or so $10 expense reductions or income increases that all add up to maybe an extra $20K a year, or $1M over a potential 50 year retirement that make a difference for me. If I was Bill Gates maybe the $1M would not make a difference, but I'm not, so I like the idea of an extra $1M in my long term retirement planning.

 

[RobbieB]

To get (2000) ten dollar bumps or cuts a year means that you will do 5 a day.

 

[meierlde]

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.

Given that the raw material of glass (sand) is unlikely to ever be in short supply, the main issue in recycling glass is energy prices. It takes 4/5 the energy to recycle glass versus making virgin glass compared with 4% of the energy for aluminum. Given that glass has to be sorted by color to enable making pure colored glass and much of this is by hand sorting. It is easy to see why glass recycling was popular when energy prices were high and not so much now that they are low.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

To get (2000) ten dollar bumps or cuts a year means that you will do 5 a day.

It doesn't have to literally be $10 increments, just the idea that a lot of little recurring habits that make or save money over long periods of time can really add up.

 

[Corporateburnout]

I can't speak for others, but for me it is not the single $10 in a year that makes a difference in my retirement lifestyle. But it is the cumulative impact of 2,000 or so $10 expense reductions or income increases that all add up to maybe an extra $20K a year, or $1M over a potential 50 year retirement that make a difference for me. If I was Bill Gates maybe the $1M would not make a difference, but I'm not, so I like the idea of an extra $1M in my long term retirement planning.

I on the other like to donate cans and bottles for good cause and for the needy. They need it more than I do and it makes me feel better.......

Besides, expense reduction was never my goal when I retired. I pulled the plug when I determined that I can afford the same pre retirement lifestyle without cutting expenses.