Collecting Aluminum Cans for Cash

I've been collecting cans recently in hopes of earning a little extra cash to put towards vet bills for my dog. I remember when my dad discovered can collecting back in the early 80s. He'd stop the car sometimes and make me run out to get a can. As I recall, we couldn't pick up Coke cans back then because they were tin, not aluminum. Once when we were walking on a roadside picking up cans, my mom tells of picking up a can that had a dead, liquified mouse inside of it. I didn't see that, thank goodness, but I think of that every time I pick up a can now. [shudder]

Good discussion.  With a quarter million dollars in savings, I still am compelled to collect and turn in my cans, usually around 30 pounds at a time cashed-in at about twice a year, with a  yield around $15 each time.  It's all from personal consumption so effort is low.  I used to even ask for my plastic garbage bags back to reuse them (hey, they cost) but now I bring in a 50 gallon tote tub full of crushed cans and this makes it much neater looking while in the garage.  It's good for kids to learn about work and rewards but certainly not substantial enough for any meaningful income.  I could save more by not having any canned soft drinks!

Good discussion.  With a quarter million dollars in savings, I still am compelled to collect and turn in my cans, usually around 30 pounds at a time cashed-in at about twice a year, with a  yield around $15 each time.  It's all from personal consumption so effort is low.  I used to even ask for my plastic garbage bags back to reuse them (hey, they cost) but now I bring in a 50 gallon tote tub full of crushed cans and this makes it much neater looking while in the garage.  It's good for kids to learn about work and rewards but certainly not substantial enough for any meaningful income.  I could save more by not having any canned soft drinks!

A few years ago I tried collecting cans from the side of the road as a side income.  It didn't work out well for me.  I had a lot of close calls with cars zooming by me and almost running me over.  At the time, aluminum was 30 cents a pound, and it takes about 30 cans to make a pound.  So in other words, I was making a penny a can.  I gave up on it when I had a pickup bed full of crushed cans and made $38.  But I put in many hours of work to get to that point to where I was only making a buck or 2 per hour of work.  Not worth my time factoring in the cost of gas and my safety.

I collected cans as a kid too! My mom's work would bag them for me. I would get them and crush them with a sledgehammer. This was before the plastic can crusher was invented. The thing was, I'd let the cans sit in the bags for a few days in the summer. The bees were attracted to the sugar, so you had to be careful. I never took the cans to get recycled. I had two trash cans full of flattened cans when the trash cans disappeared. (I think my mom got tired of having them in the garage!)

Lol. 16 oz bottles to get the deposit back on them. Then headed to the drugstore to buy candy!

My friends and I used to pull a red wagon behind our bikes and pick up cans (before internet & xbox). When we found full cans we put them road, it was really loud when cars hit them. Beer cans smelled like pee from the heat, it smelled soo bad that I have yet to try a beer. 36 yrs and counting!

Every time I'm at my favorite surf break, I see an old man (at least in his 70s) walking the trash cans on the beach.  It must be part of his daily rounds.  He goes through the trash pulling out the HI-5 containers (Hawaii pays five cents for every recycled can & bottle).  He fills his ancient Datsun pickup bed with 30-gallon bags.

We surfers don't even put our containers in the trash-- we pile them alongside to make it easier for him.

I'd like to think he's doing this for the exercise, but I'm afraid it's his only income.  Yet there's no way I'd insult his pride & fierce independence by slipping him a HI-5 with a $20 bill in it.

Did that and when I was really little (and the world was different and we could still get away with such a thing) I had lemonade stands.

I loved it when each of my parents would give me money and tell me not to tell the other. Always ment double the money.

guilty!! I would do that and on weekends I would sell candy at the flea market where my aunt had a big stand, I made big bucks =]

40#, 8 bucks.

do you think that picking up aluminum cans on a motorcycle to cover more territory is more of a profitable idea to make more money. you can only walk so far and you;re exhausted e-mail me back and tell me if you think that is a good idea

There are plenty of people in my neighborhood who do this. I can leave a can out on the sidewalk at 11:00 P.M. and it will be gone by 6 A.M.

I'm working on getting a decent amount before I turn them in again.

Yea, I used to do that too - I remember getting excited when it hit 50 cents a lb. thats when I was really making the dough!

A friend and I were picking up cans along a country road and found some unopened cans of beer. That was years ago, on a military base. (We were both on active duty at the time.)

@J - Yeah, I've heard of the 5 cent deposit thing. We'd of raked it in had we had that option. I guess there might not have been so many cans on the side of the road though either.

@Mike D. - Thanks for the update, man. Tell him I said hi next time you see. Tell him he owes me some money. ;)

That guy still works there by the way.

Many moons ago I graduated high school into the '91 recession. Here in Massachusetts, you get 5 cents/can, so I thankfully only needed twenty or so for a pack of cheap smokes, and another 20 for some Ramen noodle. My friends and I did this every day for a while, and managed to get by. Talk about starting from nothing!