If you’re looking for a way to make some extra cash while also helping the environment, you should consider recycling aluminum cans. Saving aluminum cans is easy to do, and a few cans here and there can really add up over time. In order to ensure you get paid for your recycling efforts, here are some things you should do before recycling aluminum cans for cash at a recycling center.
Rinse and Drain Cans
Rinse each can out before placing it in a bag to be recycled. Cans with residue in them could attract insects, which is something you definitely do not want to do. Drain any extra water from your can by turning it upside down and letting it drip dry.
Crush to Save Space
You’ll probably want to wait until you have a full load before you take your cans in for recycling. When you crush your cans, you’ll be able to haul around twice as many in your vehicle, which means your efforts can pay off even more.
Use Caution when Picking
The good thing about aluminum can recycling is that you can easily find these cans lying beside the road or in trash cans. If you do decide to collect these cans, use caution so as not to cut yourself on exposed metal. Wear gloves when going through trash cans, and consider investing in a special tool to help you pick up cans from alongside the highway hands free.
Don’t use Cans for Other Purposes
You won’t be able to recycle aluminum cans for cash if you use them as ashtrays or place rocks or other debris in them. Avoid using aluminum cans for other purposes and you won’t have to pick through them at the recycling center in order to remove those that are unacceptable.
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My wife and I recently realized that we haven’t been really living in a way that is environmentally friendly, and we want to change that. We have a lot of empty aluminum cans just sitting in a bin in our garage, and we are going to try and be better about recycling them from now on. We found it helpful when you explained that it is important to make sure there is no leftover residue in cans so that they don’t attract any unwanted guests.
I have read on some recycling blogs that it might be a good idea “NOT” to crush cans. Any idea why that would be?
Thanks for your comment,
The main issue with crushing cans is when your company or municipality uses single-stream recycling. Since there are multiple-materials to sort, crushed cans become harder to distinguish, increasing the chance that it won’t be properly recycled.
Haven’t thought of crushing them to reduce their size before. Nice tip thought ! Aluminum cans recycling has been a hot topic for the last decade as it’s efficiency is astonishing !
Did you know that recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours — or the equivalent of a half a gallon of gasoline?
Earth’s population uses over 80,000,000,000 aluminum soda cans every year. If they are recycled effective, we can achieve a point of having something like a Perpetuum Mobile for aluminum, right?
Here is an example for you to go green and earn money at the same time – basically, this is a win-win situation. Everyone should get to know of this.