How much do you make recycling?

[QuarterMillionMan]

Soda cans, plastic bottles, newspapers/cardboards, etc. I was just curious how much people make recycling? I wish I could recycle but because I live in an apartment with limited storage space the practicality of doing so is non-existent for me. I lose out on the CA redemption value everytime I buy soda or bottled beverages (I believe .05 cents per soda can). I did try recycling once before by crushing the soda cans to save space but the cockroaches it attracted made it a nuisance to recycle so I stopped it all together. Anyone care to share their recycling stories. Oh BTW I do save my used ink cartridges. Either Staples or Office Depot (I forget) offers some kind of rebate (possibly $10 or $15 in store credit) with recycling 10 used ink cartridges. It took me years to accumulate 10 used ink cartridges but I did get something for it, I just can't remember what. I'm building up my used cartridges again and have about 4 or 5 used cartridges currently.

[kork13]

Unfortunately my city doesn't provide rebates of any sort for recycling (at least not to my knowledge). The recycling program is fairly new and still developing, so they don't even accept everything that normally I would recycle (cardboard, certain plastics, etc). To recycle those, I have to take it to the private recycling center... but it's only a mile away though, so no big deal. So even though I don't get any advantage for recycling, I do it anyway just for the sake of reducing waste somewhat. One of the city's dumps is ALSO just a mile away, so I'm constantly reminded of the amount of trash generated daily... so I do what little I can to reduce the size of our trash pile.

[hamchan]

We don't get any money for recycling here. It is compulsory, so we have to do it anyway.

[disneysteve]

OP, is there no recycling program where you live? If so, aren't there places where you can take bottles and cans. I've visited states where outside the supermarkets were machines where you could redeem your items for cash.

In my town, we have a program called RecycleBank. Our recyclables are collected weekly curbside and we get reward points that can be redeemed for a variety of things online (recyclebank.com). It hasn't been as good as I had hoped when they launched the program because there aren't a lot of rewards I care about but I do get things regularly.

[LuckyRobin]

We get about $10 knocked off our garbage bill each month by using the curbside recycling. Every time we put out recycle baskets we get a small credit to use against the garbage bill.

We take our aluminum cans to the recycling center. We wait until we have at least 50 pounds (usually closer to 100), to get the higher rate. We probably get about $40 every two months or so, but we've got neighbors who give us their aluminum cans every week. My son goes around and collects them as it is his little side business.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Yes DisneySteve, here in Los Angeles there are lots of place to take recyclables but for me personally I don't have any extra space in my small apartment to store the empty cans/bottles so I throw it away in the trash. Everytime I throw out the trash I see myself throwing away about .10 cents or .25 cents worth of empty cans/bottles and it pains me to throw away money like that but each and everytime I have to chalk it up as a loss.

[disneysteve]

Yes DisneySteve, here in Los Angeles there are lots of place to take recyclables but for me personally I don't have any extra space in my small apartment to store the empty cans/bottles so I throw it away in the trash. Everytime I throw out the trash I see myself throwing away about .10 cents or .25 cents worth of empty cans/bottles and it pains me to throw away money like that but each and everytime I have to chalk it up as a loss.

I always figured CA was more eco-friendly. I'm surprised they dont' collect recyclables curbside.

I guess it depends how convenient the places are. If you pass them regularly going to and from work, you could just keep a bin in your trunk and stop on the way. Fortunately we have curbside pickup so it isn't an issue here.

[cooliemae]

We recycle everything but aluminum cans as part of our normal garbage pick-up. As far as the cans go, we save our cans and collect them as we walk and end up with anywhere between $30-$40 in aluminum a year.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

I haven't recycled for money in about 18 years. Used to save aluminum cans (and pick the up when out on walks sometimes), crush and bag them, then my son and I would bike them up to the very clean and convenient Reynolds Aluminum center. When it closed, the alternatives were much busier and so filthy I did not want to be there. So I started giving aluminum to schools for their year-round fund raisers.

After that, my city established an experimental curbside pick up, for which I paid $15/year. I wanted to encourage the city to expand the program. The city did not expand it, yet after some years they made recycling bins available at fire stations and some parks.

So I stopped paying the $15 and started taking my recycling to the nearby fire station when I went for walks. That was what we did for years. Finally, the city put in large dumpsters for recycling in the alleys. So convenient! In the first month the city had to make immediate plans to put in even more dumpsters because participation in the program was higher than expected.

I am happy to do this tiny bit to help support my city, to see materials re-used, and to minimize landfills somewhat.

[feh]

We don't make any money from recycling; we just do it.

[GREENBACK]

The only recyclable item that I regularly sell is aluminum cans. They are about .50 a lb. currently. I fill up a large trash can with my crushed cans and typically get about 15 bucks every 6 months or so. I try to do something fun like pizza night with my proceeds.

[BuckyBadger]

We don't "make" anything by recycling. We put our recyclables curbside.

In NY you got 5 cents a can, but the other two states I've lived in didn't pay back anything for cans.

[PJam]

I don’t think most state recycling programs offer any money for recycling. You’ll probably have to look into the recycling program specific to your city. However, it is possible to make money by selling your recyclable metal scrap, e-waste, white goods, end-of-life cars, etc. at a scrap yard or recycling facility. The amount of money you make depends on the current rate for metal scrap. If you’re interested, you can sell metal scrap at a SIMS center near you. SIMS Metal Management is a private metal and electronics recycler. They have centers in various parts of the country. Visit their website for more info.

[amarowsky]

I sell my and my family's old Carlo Rossi 4L wine jugs. People use them for all sorts of stuff wine brewing, storage, craft decoration, it other. It's kind of cool because the jugs full of wine go for about 12-14$ at the store full. Then I sell the jugs empty for 3-4$ each.

[playanywhere]

How much do you make recycling?

Wow great thought! Recycling is a good idea and we all do that .. At least i do...