Recycling Cans for Games

[gf78]

I decided around this past November to recycle aluminum cans to (hopefully) purchase a game toward the end of this year. It seems like an easy & worthwhile pursuit to me. I get to recycle & have an added incentive to do so and I will (again, hopefully) have enough to pay for a game with no out-of-pocket expense. I believe I have around 30 lbs right now and the current price is around $0.55 per lb.

Even if I don't make my goal to cover a $60 game, it makes me feel good to help the environment out and not contribute to a problem. I've even got my two girls helping out.

I just thought I'd share my plans. Maybe somebody else would like to take up the cause for themselves?  As a side note for anyone considering recycling aluminum:  Prices fluctuate greatly. Around December, local prices were around a buck. So watch for your local recycle center prices to get as high as they can before cashing in.

[ffxik]

I decided around this past November to recycle aluminum cans to (hopefully) purchase a game toward the end of this year. It seems like an easy & worthwhile pursuit to me. I get to recycle & have an added incentive to do so and I will (again, hopefully) have enough to pay for a game with no out-of-pocket expense. I believe I have around 30 lbs right now and the current price is around $0.55 per lb.

Even if I don't make my goal to cover a $60 game, it makes me feel good to help the environment out and not contribute to a problem. I've even got my two girls helping out.

I just thought I'd share my plans. Maybe somebody else would like to take up the cause for themselves?  As a side note for anyone considering recycling aluminum:  Prices fluctuate greatly. Around December, local prices were around a buck. So watch for your local recycle center prices to get as high as they can before cashing in.

Ha!  I actually still recycle aluminum.  Didn't really use it on games though.

It's surprising how many cans get thrown out all the time.  At the factory I used to keep a box under the table at my workstation for people to chuck cans into.  Used to come home with a 13 gallon trash bag packed every week.  That is until they made the current changes.  Can't do it anymore.  Still you can catch me walking the roads in and around town every so often. 

[topspot123]

I actually paid for The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past with mostly aluminum can money when it released.  That is the copy I still have!

[betelgeuse]

I keep four 45 gallon cans in my back yard for plastic and aluminum. I take them in when they're full, no real time frame. In CA you gotta pay the CRV tax on them, so it's more of a game trying to break even than make a profit out here.

Last time I took them in, it was $2.00/Lb. for aluminum and $1.05/Lb. for plastic. Plastic really screws you since it's lighter than aluminum and they charge the same CRV for container size.

Basically if you get the full CRV price back, you've broke even. That puts a value of $0.00 on the actual recycled material. So you either recycle in CA or throw your money away  .

[gf78]

I keep four 45 gallon cans in my back yard for plastic and aluminum. I take them in when they're full, no real time frame. In CA you gotta pay the CRV tax on them, so it's more of a game trying to break even than make a profit out here.

Last time I took them in, it was $2.00/Lb. for aluminum and $1.05/Lb. for plastic. Plastic really screws you since it's lighter than aluminum and they charge the same CRV for container size.

Basically if you get the full CRV price back, you've broke even. That puts a value of $0.00 on the actual recycled material. So you either recycle in CA or throw your money away  .

That really blows.  It's good to recycle, but they should offer you an incentive to do so instead of penalizing you.   

[rayne315]

GF78 may I make a suggestion? If you go out to your local bars they will usually let you take their cans. the exception is usually a heavy recycling area or a place where you can sell cans for the 5 or 10 cent deposit. My dad is friends with a guy that bought a brand new pickup back in 05 by doing that at all the local bars and taking the cans that had the deposit up to michigan where it was 10 Cents a can.

[betelgeuse]

I keep four 45 gallon cans in my back yard for plastic and aluminum. I take them in when they're full, no real time frame. In CA you gotta pay the CRV tax on them, so it's more of a game trying to break even than make a profit out here.

Last time I took them in, it was $2.00/Lb. for aluminum and $1.05/Lb. for plastic. Plastic really screws you since it's lighter than aluminum and they charge the same CRV for container size.

Basically if you get the full CRV price back, you've broke even. That puts a value of $0.00 on the actual recycled material. So you either recycle in CA or throw your money away  .

That really blows.  It's good to recycle, but they should offer you an incentive to do so instead of penalizing you.   

Yeah it does!! The only one making the profit is the state, since they didn't purchase the containers in the first place. I think it's supposed to be more of a deterrent to not by the products at all. Oh yeah...we gotta pay $0.10 for bags at the grocery store now too, but at retail stores they're still free 

GF78 may I make a suggestion? If you go out to your local bars they will usually let you take their cans. the exception is usually a heavy recycling area or a place where you can sell cans for the 5 or 10 cent deposit. My dad is friends with a guy that bought a brand new pickup back in 05 by doing that at all the local bars and taking the cans that had the deposit up to michigan where it was 10 Cents a can.

As long as you don't get caught doing it, you can turn a large profit. One of the companies we do business with knows somebody who just got popped coming from AZ to CA with a truckload of cubed plastic bottles (there's no tax added to plastic drink containers in AZ). That was a much larger scale, but same offense.

[burningdoom]

I do it. But I also live in CA. 

I save about $20 worth, turn them in, then hit Goodwill.

[badATchaos]

Lucky! In Maine there is no reimbursement for recycling cans.

[gf78]

Lucky! In Maine there is no reimbursement for recycling cans.

Do you have any scrapyards around?  They will usually buy scrap aluminum, steel, etc.

[rayne315]

Can reimbusment isnt really all that special. You have to deposit the 5 cents per can when you buy it and you just get it back when you return the can to a place that accepts them, otherwise your out that 5 cents.

[badATchaos]

Lucky! In Maine there is no reimbursement for recycling cans.

Do you have any scrapyards around?  They will usually buy scrap aluminum, steel, etc.

not for a loooong ways unfortunately. Maybe i'll $tart one