Do you collect and return cans/bottles for cash?

[RobbieB]

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 -

 

[travelover]

Here in Michigan, we have a 10 cent deposit on carbonated drinks and beer. I always return them for the deposit.

 

[pb4uski]

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.

 

[Corporateburnout]

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.

 

[RobbieB]

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.

 

[TrvlBug]

I posted no, however, do save them for a neighbor's son who collects them to raise $ for his Scout Troop.

 

[samclem]

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.

 

[jazz4cash]

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.


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[daylatedollarshort]

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.

 

[Lakewood90712]

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 !

 

[samclem]

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.

 

[W2R]

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.

 

[ABQ2015]

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.

 

[scrabbler1]

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.

 

[Gumby]

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.

 

[braumeister]

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.

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.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

No we give them to charity and/or recycle for no compensation.

 

[Corporateburnout]

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.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

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? "

 

[Corporateburnout]

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....

 

[Car-Guy]

No but I did pick them up off the streets when I was about 10 to 12 years old for some cash. I think beer bottles were 2 cents each and soft drink bottles were 3 cents.

 

[athena53]

Besides I find it hard to believe millionaires return them for cash....

Wanna bet? I just entered the Coke Rewards codes from 6 bottle caps to my account this morning. It takes awhile but I've gotten $40 in Amazon credits so far. When I'm out bicycling I take a plastic bag and if I see Coke product bottles with the caps on I pick the up, enter the codes when i get home (and wash my hands) and recycle them.

I wish we did have deposits in our state.

 

[Music Lover]

Beer bottles here have a 10 cent deposit charged upon purchase. I return them for the cash, but not because I need the money...because I was forced to pay a deposit in the first place. All other cans and bottle go in the recycling bin.

 

[38Chevy454]

When I lived in CA, I would save the alum cans and plastic bottles, it was not too much hassle, and it did add up. $20-40 per trip, but the storage and time to go down to recycle was a question on trade-off. My biggest complaint on it was the added tax when purchasing, like so many of CA's forced programs to extract money out of you.

In NM here I will put my alum cans in the recycle at work, but that's it. No recycling at home. Just put cans and bottles in the trash. Don't miss having to take all those empties down to recycle center for cash. In fact here the payment amount on the cans or bottles is so low, it is not worth it.

 

[Independent]

My state has a 5 cent deposit on cans. I save them and redeem them for my deposit.
My city has curbside recycling for plastic, tin cans, and paper. We use that.

We pay for trash pickup based on volume, but recycling is free. So recycling saves us money.