Earn Income Collecting Aluminum

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Have you ever wondered collecting aluminum can earn you a good side income and can help you be busy with a part-time job after work!. Why part-time, if you can do it full time and earn even more working as per your timings, hours, days and interested areas.

The work might cost you a lot of energy but there is a lot of money in it. In the busy world of ours, today, we see people consuming more canned foods and beverages but less people to clean them all. A sweeper would sweep them off the road and into the garbage bin but if those cans are collected and sold to recycling industries, you can earn a heavy amount by the end of each day.

The aluminum you collect are from soda, beer, juice tins of various kinds, shapes, form and quality, and you call them scrap metal. Your collection of these will be cashed out at a recycling center. This article contains everything you need to know to earn income collecting aluminum.

How Can You Earn Income Collecting Aluminum?
Can You Make Money Collecting Aluminum?
How Much Money Can You Get For Aluminum?
How Many 12 oz Aluminum Cans Does it Take to Make a Pound?
What is The Most Profitable Material to Recycle?
Recycling Cans For Money in South Africa
How to Make Money From Waste in India
Where do I Take Aluminum Cans For Money?
Recycling Cans For Money Near me
How to Make Money From Recycling UK
How to Recycle Aluminum Cans For Money
How Many Cans do I Need to Make 20 Dollars?
How Much is a lb of Aluminum?

How Can You Earn Income Collecting Aluminum?

1. About the work

The work is nothing but roaming around your city and collecting all kinds of aluminum products of all kinds. If you like afternoon walks, you should walk around with a sack this time and pick aluminum cans from wherever you can see them.

Fill your sack and cash them out to earn a regular income and get paid on a daily basis. At the moment aluminum is selling per pound and it is found and sold in all the cities around the globe. The rate of aluminum you collect, keeps on fluctuating from time to time.

However, it never goes to low, in fact it increases with time, so you’re never under loss. It proves a guaranteed income. You sell the products you get for free and then you get paid for your sales. It is one of the easiest ways to earn good cash in your vacations if you’re a kid looking for pocket money.

2. How much can you earn?

Now this is something you want to know first. How much you can actually make collecting and selling aluminum. Your income depends upon how full your sack or wheelbarrow gets by the end of the day. You can also go out collecting aluminum in a truck, if you have one. If you sell 100 cans for $1 you will have to collect at least 1000 cans to make $10 per day.

This much might not be enough for you so you will need to make more trips to the streets and local bins. When the rates of aluminum rise, it is merry time for your business. You can much more and even double the amount in a single day.

To know about the local rates of aluminum in your locality you will need to consult with somebody who is already doing the job because a fixed rate cannot be mentioned here as all over the world, rates are different at different places.

3. How Much Time Does It Take?

To be honest, it takes a lot of time to complete this job. The job can be highly strenuous to middle aged and older people. Basically young blood enjoy the job as they are fast, active and do not get tired easily. Collecting can requires looking for cans. When you start you will need to search a lot and even end up with no cans at all by the end of the day.

Don’t let the sweepers take all of them. Be an early bird and start your work before the city is up and rising. This will get you a lot of cans emptied the night before and you can fill your sacks with these. On the contrary if you look for cans at places where they are used most there are chances you can have bag full even in the evenings.

4. Where To Look For Aluminum?

This is easy. All you need to do is visit bars, restaurants, local joints, parks, movie halls and do not hesitate to look around the garbage areas because after use the can is garbage and so you will see them thrown away in these places.

Another way is you can pay the manager, theatre people, of these places to keep the cans for you to collect instead of handing them over to the garbage collectors. But this will cost you a good amount of cash.

However, the turnover is amazingly satisfactory once you’ve people working with you and for you in selling aluminum for recycle. Contact your neighbors and tell them to help you with aluminum they don’t need. Neighbors are good they help you and encourage you by asking others to help you do the collecting work.

5. What Should You Collect?

Talking about what you should collect when collecting Aluminum, you should try looking for heavy aluminum products. Cans take up more space and are extremely light. You are paid by the weight of your collection so what you have to do is look around for aluminum utensils, like plates, bowls, glasses, etc., that are heavier in weight than cans.

Stuffs like spoons, useless aluminum tools to throw away, etc. These things will be melted and so it doesn’t matter if you have a dirty, old collection of aluminum, simply take it all to the industry and all of them will be weighed and sold right in front of you.

Another way is, you can visit houses buying old aluminum things for less money, and sell it to the industry to gain profit. Many collectors do this and so you might not find heavy metals on the roads and ditched very often.

6. Buy and Sell

You have an option to buy aluminum and sell it. For example; in your house if you have an old pressure cooker and you have no buyer, you throw it away. People actually buy these old utensils and sell them to the recycling industries. You can do the same.

Buy the pressure cooker for $0.50 and sell it for $1, you straight away make $0.50 profit. And if you’re worried about losing the rest, you should not be because instead of you someone else would have bought and sold it and you would never find it lying in any bin or on roadsides.

In many countries it is illegal to throw cans on the road so you’re sure not to find anything in such countries. Therefore the buy and sell technique will keep your income coming.

7. Where To Sell?

Sell your aluminum to scrap metal recyclers. Every city has a scrap metal recycler and so do many towns. You need to search and make some enquiries before you step into the business. What you can do is, meet some of the collectors roaming around on the streets and ask them where they go to sell their collections. Visit the place where they tell you and find out about the pricing, policies, time to check in and check-out, time to sell and also find out about the latest rates of aluminum.

8. How To Do The Work?

Now we come to the most important question and that is, how to do the work? First of all you will need to locate the companies that buy aluminum from you and pay you cash for that. Now you have to visit all of these companies and measure the rates you are being offered. Take the highest paying company and work for them.

Now you will go out and collect aluminum. Now what you can do is set a target number to achieve. You can also set a target amount to earn a day and to reach the target you will work harder. Your pay will vary according to the market rate of aluminum so your work too has to follow the same path.

9. Steps To Make The Work Easier

If you’re collecting cans all the way, you cannot let 10 cans fill your bag up. You have to keep crushing the cans so that it takes up minimum space and you can fill your sack with more cans.

There are many websites that tell you about the benefits of recycling these kinds of metals, you must go through them because they mention exactly how your collection will be used and what other related metals can be collected and sold.

You will also know about where to find companies and buyers of the metal you collect. Scrap aluminum is metal and it can be recycled therefore there are more companies looking for scrap metal than plastic, etc.

10. Research

It is of utmost importance that you research about the job before you start doing it. Research is what you’re doing right now. Reading and understanding what the job is all about. This is a good thing. It takes you far ahead of others.

Research also helps you calculate the amount of money you can make selling aluminum and at the same time you learn about how to do the work, what all things you will need in the job, etc. So what you have to do is, talk to your friends, visit Google and search for the job, read articles related to the job.

Talk to people who have been doing the job. Ask questions from experienced people about how long they lasted in the job and the reasons for liking and disliking the job. This will help you fight obstacles if any that come in your way. It will also help you not to get cheated because you have info about the work before hand, it will also make the work look familiar and easier than you expected.

11. The Scope

The work offers you a good scope for a career. You always start small and slow but once you gain the hold of the work you can do all of it yourself and also invest in it for growing in it. You can start with selling aluminum and then expand your work by collecting and selling other metals as well.

Other metals have more money in them than aluminum but aluminum is a good way to start and has regular income, which other metals don’t have. Gradually when you have made good income from the work, you should save it and buy a few wheelbarrows. Then hire a few other people to work for you, pay them monthly and keep the profits you earn.

As you begin to collect and earn more you can visit house to house and make deals. You can tell these people that you will visit them every fortnight and collect unwanted things from them and pay them in return. People will take you as a source of income and will wait for you every two weeks.

You can make deals with house owners, banks, malls, companies, etc and be the aluminum collector of the town. The scope as you can see is great in the work. It will take patience and a lot of time but persistence will help you very much to survive in the field.

12. The Reputation

No job is bad in the world. Collecting cans actually benefit the society. You will see people, products; awareness programs asking you to recycle every possible plastic, metal, etc., things that you use and they are doing this for the preservation of the environment.

So if you’re that daily aluminum collector of some locality, people actually admire your hard work because it benefits you, the aluminum industries as well as the whole world’s environment.

In fact, in many places people will begin to recognize you and when you visit them they will bring out the cans they collected in their house to give it to you when you arrive. And if you find it difficult to take from them, you can offer a ball or a doll to the kids of these houses for helping you out in your work.

Can You Make Money Collecting Aluminum?

Turning in aluminum cans is one of the easiest ways to make money recycling. It’s definitely worth it to start collecting cans and making an extra trip to your local scrap metal recycler every once in a while, especially if you live in a state with a higher aluminum payout rate.

Since aluminum is one of the most valuable and easiest types of metal to recycle, it’s also one of the most popular materials to recycle. Because of this, there are many recycling programs around the country that you can use to start recycling cans for money.

On average, you can get paid a little over $0.80 per pound of aluminum, with states like Michigan and California paying out close to $0.10 per can. That’s $3.20 a pound just for recycling a bunch of cans!

In the US, only about 67% of all aluminum cans are recycled every year, but that brings in a total of around $800 million for those taking their cans to be recycled. If all aluminum cans were recycled, that would make an extra $1 billion to split.

Don’t haul your cans across state lines to get a better rate, though. This is considered smuggling in many places and you can be legally prosecuted for it.

How Much Money Can You Get For Aluminum?

The money you make for recycling aluminum cans largely depends on where you live and how much time you invest in collecting them. Scrap Sales USA currently estimates an average of about $0.35 per pound of aluminum that you recycle.

This is based on the current “spot price”, or market price, of aluminum per pound divided in half. The current spot price is about $0.70 per pound. However, the prices vary across the United States, so your state may be lower or higher.

And, it’s important to note that the price a recycling center gives you is negotiable. So, feel free to try to squeeze a bit more out if you don’t think you were given a fair price. How much you make depends on how much you collected and how much you’re willing to haggle.

Always get a quote for your turn-in in writing before you leave if you’re not paid that day. Some recycling centers will pay weekly or monthly, but you’ll want a written record of the price you were told if so.

How Many 12 oz Aluminum Cans Does it Take to Make a Pound?

About 32 to 35 12 oz cans makes a pound. There is no exact number because of the differences between brands.

After some research, we found that we need to be on the same page when we are talking cans per pound because there are 6, 8, 10, 12, 16 oz. pop top cans PLUS screw top “bottle” cans and others. So using standard 12 oz. pop/beer cans that are rinsed and dry we find that the consensus is that it takes from 32-35 cans to make a pound. There seems to be no exact number because there are variances by brand.

What is The Most Profitable Material to Recycle?

Recycling is one of the most eco-friendly, earth-conserving process which can be used to earn a good deal of profit. Although there are several things of everyday use which can be recycled to earn a penny or two, recycling some particular things can offer you more profit.

So, let’s move on to a list of top 10 most profitable things to recycle

1. Omnipresent Aluminum cans

Beverages as well as aerosol containers have aluminum in them. Aluminum is one of the easiest metals to recycle. Due to its effortless and highly profiting recycling, almost two-third of the current aluminum in use has been obtained from recycling old aluminum.

It also has limited reserves and takes a lot of manufacturing energy, meaning it offers you a guaranteed profit. These wide-spread, empty aluminum Cans can earn you a good deal of money from beverage and aerosol manufacturing companies.

2. Scrap metal is the cash metal

Scrap metal such as bronze, copper, brass and stainless steel are abundantly found in scrap yards. While you are visiting these yards, don’t forget to bring a magnet along with you to test which of the metals is ferrous and which is non-ferrous. Typically, non-ferrous metals are profitable metals.

The reason to frequent scrap yards is the same as that of profitable recycling. Not only recycling scrap metal saves energy, but also it saves the reserves which may otherwise be exploited in their manufacturing. You can collect scrap metal from your home and deposit into community backyard or any other organization to earn good money.

3. Plastic bottles and glassware

Plastic bottles are hugely used by world population to meet store soda as well as pure water. A huge amount of people is resorting towards the usage of mineral or pure water to escape the hazards of contaminated water.

These plastic bottles can earn you a lot of money when submitted to special recycling organizations. You can earn 5 cents per bottle from California State and 10 cents per bottle by Michigan State.

4. Used up car batteries and tires

Car batteries contain certain electrolytic chemicals which can be remodeled to obtain pure electrolytes. Similarly, tire companies are in search of used up tires to create new ones. Recycling worn out tires of your motorbike or car and used up batteries of your can give you a good sum. You can earn gift cards up to ten dollars or earn varying sums from scrap yard owners.

5. Empty ink cartridges

Many of us use printers in our offices as well as homes. Ink cartridges are used in all of these printing machines and returning them can earn you a good amount of cash. A number of office supplies and stationary companies offer you points which you can use for special discounts on certain items. Similarly, you can also earn some cash after recycling a specific number of ink cartridges at some stores.

6. Bygone electronics

Electronics, such as smart phones, laptops, washing machines and personal computers, always hold a good deal of worth even after they stop working. Most of the smart phones have LEDs and chips made out from special ores and expensive metals such as platinum and gold.

Each and every part of your bygone electronics holds a specific value and their added worth can give you a good sum of cash if you recycle them.

7. Cosmetic and food packaging

Cosmetics and food packaging come in the form of plastic sheets and hard boxes. All of this packaging material can be treated and molded to be re-used in creation of more packaging. Plastics used in food and cosmetic packaging are usually of high quality and recycling them can earn you great profit. Similarly your plastic as well as aluminum foils which are used to cover stored food can also prove to be very fruitful for you when recycled.

8. Books, newspapers, magazines

We all have books, pages, newspapers and magazines lying around in our homes. Usually, most of the paper manufacturing industries like to recycle high quality writing paper to make low-quality magazine paper.

The material and energy which is used to make writing paper can be recycled dozens of times to create magazine and newspaper. The same magazine paper can be recycled to make newspaper. Recycling these paper forms can offer you a good amount.

9. Light bulbs and wood waste

You can not know it, but fluorescent tubes and Light Bulb s can be recycled and modified to create more light bulbs. These recycled light bulbs can be sold at half the price of the actual one. In underdeveloped countries, these lamps have a high value. Recycling these lamps and selling them in the right market can bring you a lot of profit.

10. Medicinal and aluminum foils

Medicinal packaging uses common aluminum foil. Here again you can recycle the aluminum and medicinal foil to earn a lump sum.

Recycling Cans For Money in South Africa

Recycling in South Africa has still got a long way to go before it can compare with European standards. What is second nature for most European households in terms of sorting through their rubbish and preparing it for collection, is still a work in progress in South Africa.

The government’s goal is to reduce the amount of plastic, cans, paper and glass going into landfills by 70 percent in the next decade or so.

One such recycling incentive scheme is Collect-a-Can, a non-profit organisation started in 1993 in response to the steel beverage can industry’s responsibility to give something back to the environment.

Collect-a-Can has been the driving force behind the collection and recycling of cans for many years, and now after 23 years, South Africa has managed to increase its rate of can collection from 18 to 72 percent. This compares favourably with first-world statistics and is something of a recycling success story for the region, which includes Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Mozambique.

Its Cash for Cans initiative encourages the collection of cans and their sale back to Collect-a-Can for cash. This creates jobs in impoverished communities and brings in alternative forms of income for NGOs, schools and various other community initiatives.

In a country with one of the highest unemployment rates in the world, many jobseekers are forced to find alternative ways of earning a living. This initiative and others like Collect-a-Can, help to safeguard the livelihood of thousands of unemployed South Africans and help to develop communities across the southern African region.

The steel beverage cans that are collected are melted down and used to produce other steel products. This constitutes the majority of cans collected in South Africa, but imported aluminium cans, which have more value than tin-plated steel cans, are also recycled by Collect-a-Can. The going rate for informal collectors is R8 for each kilogram of collected aluminium cans, which works out at 77 240ml cans.

Aluminium is 100 percent recyclable, which means there is no part that we can’t reuse – it can be squashed, melted and reconstituted over and over again. What is alarming is that aluminium cans have a lifespan of over 500 years and steel cans and tins can last up to 100 years; yet another reason for them not to end up in the landfill sites.

The benefit for the environment is invaluable, because for every one ton of aluminium cans recycled, 14,000 kWh of energy is saved, 6295 litres of oil is saved and 14.5265 cubic meters of landfill space is saved.

How to Make Money From Waste in India

Recycling business has become a huge market today and more and more people in India are taking this up as a business.

1. Waste Paper Recycling Business

Paper is usually manufactured from the barks and woods of the tree. Therefore, it means the more the number of paper we use; the more the number of trees needs to be cut. This has a lot of negative impact on the environment and is a threat to human existence.

Keeping these factors in mind, the idea of waste paper recycling was introduced. Today, it has become a business and yields high returns on investment. In waste paper recycling, all the waste papers which include newspaper, magazines, books, unused notebooks etc are first shredded to tiny bits and then the long process of recycling is followed to produce the pulp. This pulp can be used again to manufacture papers from it.

It requires some investment initially but finally the returns are really good on the same.

2. E-Waste Recycling

E-waste recycling is otherwise known as electronic waste recycling. As the name suggests, it refers to the recycling of unused electronic items like television, refrigerators, mobile phones etc.

Usually all these electronic devices have a high content of elements like cadmium, lead, phosphorous etc. present in it which is harmful for the environment. Therefore recycling these products is the best way to recreate and save mother earth.

E-waste recycling is a booming business these days due to the wastage of these electronic devices. All you need is to collect them and start the recycling process. The profits are almost double than the initial investment.

3. Battery Recycling

These days battery are being used in almost all the household items, automobiles etc. Therefore, battery recycling is becoming a booming industry these days. It has a high potential for people who are thinking to take it up as their business.

However, do remember it requires skilled labourers and as a fully fledged business it needs certain norms and permissions to be followed as laid by the government. Moreover, batteries have high content of dangerous element present in it which can be toxic in nature.

Therefore, recycling is important here along with precautions. The profits are moderate in this business.

4. Garbage Recycling

Garbage recycling is something which the government has laid emphasis on. Garbage consists of any unused waste. This can include both decomposed and non-decomposed ones. The decomposed garbage are mostly the waste food materials, papers, sanitary napkins etc. and non-decomposed include plastics.

With proper modern techniques, the decomposed garbage is used to generate power and also serve as fertilizer for the soil whereas the plastics can be recycled again to form the same.

This is a leading industry and it has government aid as well for all those who want to take it up as business. Also, the returns on your investment are good and you get government grant and subsidies for the raw materials processing and man power.

5. Tyre Recycling

Tyre recycling is something that we see in our day to day lives. Every time our vehicle tyre gets punctured we go to the repair shop and get our tyre replaced. This is a small example where recycled tyres are being used.

Tyre recycling is a booming industry and it is gaining wide popularity too. All the unused rubber tyres are being recycled and new ones come to the market in its place. With the automobile industry in its peak, tyres business is getting lot of importance these days.

Like all business, all you need to know the source of raw materials and labourers and destination of the finished product, i.e. the market and the customer.

6. Aluminium Cans Recycling

Aluminium cans are mostly thrown away once the content is used. We see lot of these cans lying here and there and in the bins. These aluminium cans are taken to the treatment plants for recycling and are processed further to produce the new ones.

The aluminium cans are sold at a high price and hence yields good profits. However, you need to have a set up ready if you are considering this as a business. Also, some initial investments are required for the same but the profits are really high.

7. Packaging Cartons Recycling

Packaging cartons recycling is another good option for starting a business in it. The materials used are easily available and the production cost is also low. This will yield a good return on your investment.

Packaging cartons are nothing but cartons which contain the products. These days online marketing has become a trend and people purchase almost all their daily needs from online. These goods are delivered in a packaging carton and we finally dispose them. However, the same packets can be recycled and made into packaging containers.

8. Scrap Metal Recycling

Scrap metal recycling includes recycling metals which contain certain percentage of iron and without it. Scrap metals largely contain iron, lead, aluminium etc. and the same are being recycled to more useful form.

Although the initial investment is high in this case but the returns are really lucrative. These days’ metals are used in wide variety of things and this factor contributes towards having it as a profitable business.

9. Plastic Recycling

Plastic is extremely dangerous to the environment as it doesn’t get decomposed easily. It can block drainage, affect water life and create a mess on the places where it is thrown. Therefore, it is best to recycle these plastics to form new by products from them.

Plastics are common in usage and starting right from polythene to water containers everything is made out of them. The primary reason being they are cheap and although they cannot be decomposed, they can be melted easily.

Therefore, this can be a huge business and your investments are really less as compared to other business but it will give you good returns.

10. Food Waste Recycling

This is one of the most nature friendly ways of recycling. It is obvious that food waste is really high in the world and some or the other food is thrown out as it is not consumed. Therefore, food waste recycling has become a great business option these days.

It is easy for food to get decomposed and it does not emit any harmful or toxic gases while recycling. They are processed to generate bio-energy, fertilizers etc. Therefore, you practically require very less investment and the profits are moderate in this business.

Where do I Take Aluminum Cans For Money?

Many communities throughout the country now offer a recycling service for your aluminum cans or glass bottles. You simply toss the cans into a recycling bin every week, and then put it out with the trash to be picked up.

But while recycling is important for the environment, did you know you might be leaving money on the table by just sending those cans off to the local borough instead of selling them to a recycling center?

Instead of putting your aluminum cans into that recycling bin, why not stash them away until you are ready to take your haul to someone who will pay you top dollar? Often, a recycling center or other distribution center will pay a small amount for each can you bring to them. To that end, here’s how you ensure a nice payout when you take your cans to the local recycling center.

Properly Clean Each Can: If you are going to hold onto your aluminum cans for a month or longer so you can build up a big stash to sell, make sure each can is properly cleaned before you actually toss it into a bin or garbage bag. Liquids like soda and other beverages will leave a sugary residue behind, and this could easily attract insects and other pests if you are not careful.

You don’t want to open up that garbage bag on the day you plan to go to the recycling center and find a massive infestation. Your local recycling center will likely not accept the cans if there are insects and other creepy crawlies inside.

Crush Each Can to Maximize Space: Aluminum cans can easily be crushed to a fraction of the size that they are off the shelf. Once the can is empty, there’s no reason to keep that can standing upright. Putting a can into your bin or garbage bag without crushing it is essentially wasting space.

You’ll either fill up the garbage bag far too soon or end up with multiple bags or bins taking over your space.

Crushing each can will allow you to fit more aluminum into each bag or bin and that in turn will lead to a higher payout for you when you go to the recycling center. If you crush the cans, they are also a less appealing space for pests or insects.

Clean Up Your Neighborhood: Just saving up your own aluminum cans to sell is one way to make a little extra money, but what if you really want to maximize your profit? One way you could easily find more aluminum to sell is to go on a can picking expedition through your local neighborhoods. You can look for aluminum on the side of the road to add to your personal stash.

Just be sure that each can is clean before you put it into the pile, and of course, always be careful when picking up anything on the side of the road. Use gloves or a picking tool to make initial contact with the can. You don’t want to risk getting cut on broken aluminum or glass.

Don’t just give your aluminum cans away to the local free recycling service. Crush and stash your cans until you’ve built up a decent number, and then take your haul to a local recycling center for a nice payday.

Recycling Cans For Money Near me

Aluminum cans are the most recycled drink container in the United States. In 2013, 1.72 billion lbs., roughly 60.2 billion cans were recycled. That is a recycling rate of nearly 70%. The energy saved by this kind of recycling equals roughly 19 million barrels of crude oil.

The amazing benefit of this is the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions and the reduction of landfill mass. It is certainly one of the most sustainable metals in the world, and generates the most money to the consumer who bothers to take it to an aluminum recycling center near them.

When searching for a can recycle center near you try to find a facility that offers the highest payout per pound. You can try looking on the website of the local facility to see if they have advertised their payout price. You can also use the map to find a can recycling center in your area.

If you live in a bottle bill state, you should readily be able to find a collection center; taking your aluminum cans to a location where they’ll give you cash deposit back on those cans is definitely the best way to make money on aluminum can recycling.

If you don’t live in a bottle bill state, however, it’s still worth calling your local scrap yards and asking what rates they pay for aluminum cans. If you have recycling aluminum cans for your local scrap yard with enough regularity, even 40 cents per pound can add up over time.

How to Make Money From Recycling UK

From collecting up old printer ink cartridges to recycling your old clothes – there‘s a way for you to cash in on recycle items. Let’s see some options below.

It’s much simpler than you think to recycle your old stuff in return for money off at the shops. Environment Secretary Michael Gove announced plans to bring back a deposit scheme.

Brits will get up to 6p back for every plastic, metal and glass bottle they return, under the new plans. Kids of the the 70s and 80s will fondly the taking empty “pop” bottles back to the shop to collect cash refunds.

Currently just over half of all plastic bottle are recycled – but Mr Gove wants to learn from so-called “reward and return” schemes in Australia and Denmark where up to nine in ten bottles are recycled.

But The Sun Online can reveal how you can ALREADY get paid to trade in your old cans. There are a number of ways to jump on the recycling bandwagon – from trading in your old clothes to bringing back empty beauty pots, and even cashing in with old ink cartridges.

We take you through some of the options for making money from your rubbish.

Bring back five empty pots to Lush and get a free face mask worth £6.95

The black pots that high street smelly shop Lush uses are made with 100 per cent post-consumer plastic.

All you need to do is bring back five empty ones to your local lush shop and you’ll get a free fresh face mask worth £6.95.

Find your local store on the Lush website.

Recycle old beauty containers and get 10 per cent off

The high street fashion shop, owned by the same company as H&M, Cos and Weekday, has a flagship store in Regents Street, London.

Shoppers can return their old beauty containers to stores in exchange for a 10 per cent off voucher.

Swap old clothes for a £5 off £30 spend in H&M

If you bring a bag of unwanted clothes or home textiles to H&M then you can get a voucher for £5 off £30 spend in the high street shop.

H&M says the clothes can be any brand and in any condition. You need at least a supermarket carrier bag size full of clothing.

Get a £5 off £35 spend in M&S by donating old clothes and soft furnishing to Oxfam

Donate any item of Marks & Spencer labelled clothing or soft furnishings to Oxfam and pick up a £5 off when you spend £35 in M&S.

This offer includes the donation of old M&S bras but not swimwear, underwear, socks or damaged or soiled items.

You must use the voucher in the same month that you get it.

Get up to £3 per recycled ink cartridge

Anushka Fernando, from MagicFreebies.com, revealed how she made £100 in less than 12 months. Printer cartridges can vary in value. Starting at 19p, the most valuable – the HP 62 Colour – is worth £3, according to the blogger.

Checkout websites like the Recycling Factory to find out how much yours are worth. The website recycles over 8 million cartridges each year.

You don’t have to pay for postage as it provides a freepost service for small packages and free courier collection for larger amounts.

Get up to 60p for every kilogram of cans you recycle

If you keep hold of your cans you could recycle them for cash.

They pay out between 45p – 50p for each kilo of cans (a kilo is usually 65 -70 cans), so it may take a while to hit the big bucks.

There are around 300 Cash for Can centres dotted around the UK.

How to Recycle Aluminum Cans For Money

When it comes to easily recycling aluminum cans, consider these 10 aluminum can recycling tips that will help you make money:

1. Rinse and drain the aluminum cans. If your cans aren’t clean, they can attract insects and pests. Instead, store them clean and dry.

2. Consider crushing your cans to save space. The one exception may be if you are taking your cans to a multiple-stream facility. Still, it may be worth considering how much space you can save in your vehicle if you crush cans before hauling them.

3. If you collect cans to recycle them, exercise caution. While aluminum cans can readily be found in trash cans or on the side of the road, making them a relatively easy revenue source if you’re recycling for cash, you can also easily cut yourself on the sharp edges. As a result, it’s in your best interests to use gloves or tools that can protect your hands.

4. Keep your cans clean. If you use your cans for ashtrays, for instance, that can make them harder to recycle later.

5. Separate your aluminum cans out from other recyclables. This is especially true in states with bottle bills.

6. In bottle bill states— California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, and Vermont—keep your aluminum cans separate so you can take them somewhere. At 5-10 cents each, returning your aluminum cans for the deposit can add up to a significant total pretty quickly.

7. If you live in a bottle bill state (or close enough to a bottle bill state to make driving to one worth it), find a facility that will both take your aluminum cans and pay for them. As noted previously, at 5-10 cents each, returning your aluminum cans for the deposit can up to a significant total pretty quickly.

8. If you don’t live in a bottle bill state, it may still be worth calling local scrap yards and asking what they pay for aluminum. An additional benefit of working with scrap yards is that you get cash for more than just aluminum cans; while you’ll need to clarify with each individual scrap yard what aluminum (and other metals, for that matter) they’ll pay for and at what rates, this can be another way to make some cash.

9. Because aluminum can be recycled forever, it has great recycling potential. And while cans do generally get recycled back into cans, aluminum cans (and other aluminum products) do eventually have to be downcycled, which means that the higher grade aluminum you have, the more valuable it can be.

10. As a result, consider other aluminum you might have that scrap yards might be willing to pay for, including automotive parts, siding, gutters, and more. Just keep in mind that every state and municipality may have different laws about what materials you can scrap, so be sure to check regulations first. (For instance, some places say automotive parts can only be scrapped by auto shops.)

How Many Cans do I Need to Make 20 Dollars?

Aluminum beverage cans are roughly 32 cans per pound. So at 50 cents a pound, you would need around 1,250 to 1,300 cans to make 20 bucks.

Also, How many 12 oz aluminum cans does it take to make a pound?

So using standard 12 oz. pop/beer cans that are rinsed and dry I find that the consensus is that it takes from 32-35 cans to make a pound.

Aluminum Can Prices at Scrapyards and Recycling Centers Prices go up and down but are usually similar throughout the country at any given time. With approximately a half-ounce of aluminum per can, or 32 cans per pound, that makes each one worth about 1.7 cents.

How Much is a lb of Aluminum?

Today, aluminum prices occupy a range trending around .35 cents per pound. In 1990, for example, the price of aluminum floated around half that price. Overall, aluminum is on a general upward trend though prices fluctuate greatly month to month.

Due to rises and falls in the amount of aluminum scrap sold, prices fall and rise as well. While aluminum keeps afloat, it is a steady investment of time and energy (unlike precious copper).

Non-Ferrous	Aluminum	$0.15 – $0.60 per lb.
Non-Ferrous	Aluminum Cans	$0.30 – $0.40 per lb.
Non-Ferrous	Aluminum Siding	$0.40 – $0.50 per lb.
Non-Ferrous	Aluminum Breakage	$0.04 – $0.15 per lb.
Non-Ferrous	Aluminum Radiators	$0.15 – $0.25 per lb.

Bottom Line

All in all, you can and should make money recycling your aluminum cans or those of your community. While it’s not a way to achieve full-on financial independence (at least, not for most folks), it can be a great way to net yourself a little extra cash if you happen to be low on change this month or if you want to buy something pricey and don’t quite have the budget to make the cut. It’s also a great way to help the environment.