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Cans? Really?

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  1. #1
    BurlyGuys started this thread.
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    Cans? Really?

    Okay, I see posts on here all the time about cans, and I don't get it. Where would one possibly get enough cans to make them worth a trip to the yard? I see "I took my cans in" pretty regularly on here.

    The few cans I get come from my groceries, and they just go into shred. Sounds like you have a different category for cans. Is that correct?

    And where do you get enough to make it worth a trip to the yard? Are you talking about raiding curbside recycle bins? That seems problematic on a lot of levels.

    Enquiring minds want to know...

    Burly Smash![/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
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  3. #2
    mikeinreco's Avatar
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    When I first started scrappin I had nothing but a serious drinking habit......I would walk a route from my house to the yard going through all the trash on the way (LOL)...........I would end up with $10 to $20 worth of cans (enough for some beer and cigs)..........Since I quit drinking and go for the more lucrative stuff my coke cans that I drink at the house just get thrown in with shred

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  5. #3
    BurlyGuys started this thread.
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    So you're in a state without a bottle deposit. Here in Michigan those have a 10 cent deposit so pop (soda for some of you) cans just go back to the stores for a deposit refund.

  6. #4
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    They buy by the lb here

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    Filthy's Avatar
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    i wouldnt throw AL cans in my shred, but most of the time they just go in with my mixed AL sheet. i dont get enough to save them as their own grade for a few cents more per load

    also, no deposit state, they get sold by the lb as UBC (used beverage container)
    We're the renegades of Junk!

  8. #6
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    I save em up, considering that I get a reasonable amount of them. I just toss the aluminum ones in a big bag, and I get like 8-9 bucks every trip. The tin cans I throw in shred.
    Last edited by Gravitar; 10-05-2012 at 09:31 PM. Reason: Stupid iPhone keyboards

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    We don't generate many cans here at the house so I only turn in every 3-4 months. Some times the one can taking up space in a bucket that I need pisses me off and gets flung somewhere.
    Recyclable Material Merchant Wholesaler
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    "Give them enough so they can do something with it, but not too much that they won't do nothing."

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  11. #8
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    For quite a few years I would spend almost half the year (on and off) in TX and I stayed at a motel. They don't have deposit like we do, but I literally could have had a full over sized trash bag of them daily had I known then what I do now. The housekeepers just threw them next to the dumpster.

    So if I decide to go back I will find a yard close and just crush them and take them in while I'm down there. NO sense letting that money go to a landfill, I always get the big rooms with a kitchen so I'll have plenty of storage space in my room!! lmao!!

  12. #9
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    It is not worth it for me. There is no deposit here, I get about .45 per lb. a full truck load would barely pay for the gas to haul them to the yard.
    here is my breakdown of beer cans:
    http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/day-l...html#post46681

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    i started recycling cans as a kid. i would get them from my home and back in the woods where parties were, crush them and bring em in when the garbage can was full. in college, we weren't allowed to have kegs, so we had a ton of cans. i would have the pledges crush them after parties, cash em in and we'd drink that night for free. i still continue to collect cans but at a much slower pace. if its metal, it has a designated place to go at my home.
    "Easy does it, first things first, do what you can. Believe me, I too have been through the wringer." Bill W.

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    We have had deposits on beverage cans since the mid 70's in Michigan. The idea was to make it too expensive to litter. The amount of crap along the road did diminish greatly. As time has gone by the value of the dime has gone down so the law isn't as effective as it once was.

    One example; a friend goes for walks in his rural area. He takes an onion bag along and picks up whatever pop/beer cans he sees along the way. He takes his wife on a trip/cruise every winter paid for with deposit returns. That is a lot of money thrown in the ditches.

    Bill

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    My yard pays .55 a pound, and if you're over 75 lbs, they bump it another 20 cents per pound. I'll take cans, fold/crush them and throw them in a big lawn bag. I save up until I get a full van-load (anywhere from 1-3 months if I'm not particularly lucky with finding them) and that's nearly a hundred bucks. That's with no effort... if I actually try hard, go on walks down the road, look in garbage cans, I could probably do that much in 1-2 weeks (and that's still only a minimal effort). I won't necessarily hop out of my van for one pop can, but I do collect them. It's worth it to me.
    My grandmother was always a can-collector... like somebody else posted, it was how she paid for a yearly vacation, and she usually did pretty nice vacations. I blame her for giving me the scraping bug!


    Funny story: Last Saturday I was in line at the pay-out window at the yard, and a guy in front of me was drinking an energy drink in one of those big cans. He threw it away in the can by the door. As I left, I reached in the can and grabbed it (and another one that was in there). A guy further back in line chuckled and told me that he was going to do the same thing.

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  18. #13
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    I save the cans from my house, neighbors and my dad and brothers. I'll also walk roadside for them. Money is money!

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    The only problem with cans is that it takes alot of time to acumulate them. I get alot of cans from home, Friends, neibhors, from work and if i see one in a parking lot walking back to the truck or while walking the dogs. They are everyware. I only bring them in when i have over 100lbs of them, about 3 times a year.

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    By folding down the tailgate and using a sheet of plywood hanging out the back I can fit three gaylords in a pickup. When they are crushed cans, it's worth it

    I just save em till I have enough to make it worthwhile.

    Steel food cans I throw in with the shread. I usually have 200 lbs of them everytime I do it.

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  23. #16
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    get 5 cents each here for the return on the deposit something like $30-50 a weeks worth i find and more on game weekends

  24. #17
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    i have a can crusher and 2 55 gallon drums, it takes me about 3 years to fill them up but its 200+ pounds of can grade aluminum which pays at a higher rate than clean aluminum here so they are worth sorting and stockpiling

    Heres a few other reasons why: Products in cans are usually cheaper than the same product in glass bottles due to the increased weight and higher transportation costs. I cant sell glass like i can aluminum.
    Last edited by jghilino; 10-05-2012 at 07:19 PM.

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  26. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by fiat128 View Post
    By folding down the tailgate and using a sheet of plywood hanging out the back I can fit three gaylords in a pickup. When they are crushed cans, it's worth it

    I just save em till I have enough to make it worthwhile.

    Steel food cans I throw in with the shread. I usually have 200 lbs of them everytime I do it.
    the yards in kc will not let us put tin cans in shred, are you sure on your yards rules?

  27. #19
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    I all ways throw tin cans in with shred, been doing it for five years.

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    We keep all of our aluminum soda\beer cans. We generally save them until we have a tight week (money wise) and need fuel or cigarettes or some other small emergency. (LoL).

    This past spring our local yard was paying $0.75\lb for them. Now they are down to $0.40\lb.

    As far as tin cans goes, Our local yard will not accept them. I wish they would though. That could be another potential income source. We are Redneck Pickers, so anything that can be recycled for cash will be collected. I should say, "Anything within reason".

    Brent.
    Last edited by theelectronrecycler; 10-05-2012 at 08:27 PM.

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