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Collecting Aluminum Cans for Money

One of the ways we have found to make a little extra money is to collect aluminum cans. We separate these from the weekly recycling for the county. The reason we do this is to take them to a metal recycling center that will pay for the aluminum cans you bring in.
It has become a game to us, because it takes a lot of cans to see a lot of return. But, in my mind, any cash we make is money we didn't have before. The first thing I did was enlist the help of my mom. They withhold their cans from the weekly recycling as well. Plus, any cans we see that someone else has littered, we pick up to add to our collection.

The best place I have found is the houses being built in our neighborhood. At one of the sites, I think they even figured out that someone was collecting all of the cans, because they happened to be piled together!

I have also mentioned it to a few of our neighbors, and they started bring their aluminum cans to us.
Once you're ready to turn in your collection, you should be able to google aluminum or metal recycling centers to find a place to take them. Make sure they will give you cash in return if that is your goal. Some places are only collection sites.

What do you do to help make a little extra cash?


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7 comments:

  1. I also do this at home. We already have someone who collects these cans every two weeks in an exchange for cash. :) We also do the same for some plastic containers and bottles.

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  2. We can cash the cans in at the supermarket for a nickel each. I keep the little vouchers until I have about $5, then I use it for some 'fun money.'
    When I was a kid, it was 2 cents for small bottles and a nickel for big ones. But back in that day, you could get gum for a penny and a candy bar for a nickel. So when I was a kid, collecting bottles and cans was like finding real treasure!

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  3. How cool! I love this. Thanks for sharing with my party.

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  4. We do this too, and it does take a lot of can to have a good profit, but it's worth it... And my son loves going!

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  5. We used to do this. You've inspired me to do this again. :)

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  6. Hey Erin,
    This is great information on recycling aluminum cans. Thank you so much for sharing with Wednesdays Adorned From Above Link Party last week.
    Have a great week.
    Debi

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  7. I once read a People magazine article about an immigrant couple that collected cans after they both worked full time at cleaning jobs. They would go out for hours at night and dumpster dive for cans. They put 2 kids through college doing this! Whenever I feel bad about my situation, I think of this family and it inspires me to do more to fix my problems.

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