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I've noticed cans and bottles with deposit amounts on them. I've often wondered if it would be possible to get enough to take them to one of those states to get the deposit. I'll do the math one of these days when I get bored. Can they be crushed? I'm sure bailing wouldn't work, no way to tell how many cans.
I give all my empty bottles and cans to an old Lithuanian guy that comes through our neighbourhood with a shopping cart every Monday night.
I dont go around picking up cans, I just throw in the few that accumulate here at the house from my roommates. with a truck I focus mainly on appliances, tvs, and big items. There are a lot of guys who ride around on bikes who collect the cans and pick through the garage cans. I cant bring myself to picking through garage cans for a few cans..
I concur.Quote:
Originally Posted by azscrapper
I see a lot of guys riding around also. Yet in other areas guys will be flying signs for money while cans are all around them.
I pick up cans on busy roads and gully's/drain dumpoffs. Yesterday for instance, in a gully I pulled out almost 90 lbs of cans, and a little over 700 lbs ferrous just on the maybe 1 mile stretch i walked. when you have downtime I really see no harm in getting up at 6am to do a little walking and light lifting =)
That's pretty darn good! I was only agreeing on the dumpster diving. I was just thinking if those guys begging for money would just pick up after themselves they would have plenty of cans.
Oh yeah, I'll only pull a couple cans out of a dumpster if I'm already inside for something else. Trucks running, can't spend too much time digging for a few cans.
The beer store ? Now I've heard everything !
I dont think this applies where I live (Missouri).
In Michigan we pay a 10 cent deposit on all carbonated beverage containers. If you bought them you return them and get your money back. If you find them it is found money. Most store have robotic can/bottle returns that require the cans to be semi-cylindrical to scan the barcode. If they are crushed you have to take them to a site that will deal with them. At thaat point i just throw them in my aluminum bucket. But uncrushed they are worth far more in deposit money than as scrap.
Bill
Ps. I could have written the Seinfeld episode. I was in NYC and noticed a homeless guy dragging a big bag full of cans. MI deposit is 10 and NY is 5. I turned tot he guy I was with and said "if he would move to Michigan he would double his income"
I will just add that here in Ontario, beer and liquor cans and bottles are worth 10 cents each, at the Beer Store return counter. a 24 case is worth $2.40. As a result, you do not see many beer cans or liquor bottles on the road sides. Bars and cafes that serve alcohol have local collectors, who take back the empties, and split the money half and half. When you have 50 cases of 24, the money adds up fast, that would be $120.00 at the return counter, half for the collector, makes sixty bucks, for a hours work.
Jim B.
Toronto.
Theres a place by me that just puts them at the curb. Always gone by morning.
Tj, where are you getting $.80. I'm getting around $.60 in Greenville.
I pick up beer cans anytime I see them.
As far as selling to beer stores, I know in Mexico you always bring back the beer bottles so you can get the best price on the next case of beer. Or at least it was like that when I used to travel there. Who knows now? I miss recreating in Mexico.
I'm in Ontario, so I sometimes make up gas $ on slow nights by grabbing empty beer and spirit containers. Quebec is even better, they have deposits on everything, pop included, the only thing is they can't be crushed in Quebec and you have to take it back to the same store. Homeless people live off it.
Here in ct its 5 cents a can or bottle
Lalla I'm from CT too, way better than .35 or whatever they were getting a lb
and I agree with the older posts that I wouldn't dig through garbage/recycling bins to get a few cans but yesterday there was a huge back on top of someones so on the way back we grabbed it, ended up with just over $7
I miss the old can/bottle deposits. Back when I lived in Detroit I would save them all up at work and averaged about enough for a free week of gas every month (I had a 57 mile commute so that was basically about a tank and a half a week). I also noticed as I've been around various states that Michigan doesn't seem to have as many panhandlers like say here in texas. My theory is part of that has to do with the fact that they can make some money collecting these cans/bottles.
As for taking them across state lines I heard that was illegal. I don't know if that's true or not though, although it would make sense since the deposit was never paid initially on that can. I do know that alot of the large bottlers/brewers that have plants here in texas don't even stamp the deposit markings on the cans/bottles (pepsi, anheuser-busch, coke) since texas doesn't have any deposit system. I haven't tried it before but I think they're barcoded differently too so if you tried to take some up to say michigan the machines will just reject them. Hmmm, maybe I should try it as an experiment. I'm driving back to detroit in august I may just take some texas cans and see.
Man I keep seeing these prices and clearly my advantage in ca is the cans and bottles. I'm lucky to have that. Props to the Scrappers still scrapping for the lower prices for cans and bottles. I wished they would raise it up to 25 cents a can lol. But I am thankful I have a good price in ca.