My son and I cashed in a bag of aluminum cans over the summer. I’m kicking my self for not taking a picture of this.
We walked full bag of aluminum cans down to our local recycling center. It turns out the total weight of what we collected was 23 lbs. This produced $9.20 is revenue or about $.40 a lb for clean cans. Not bad for just a little bit of mindless work.
Aluminum Scrap Metal
Have you seen those guys that drive through your neighborhood collecting scrap metal? I haven’t gotten to that point yet, but I do collect and save up my aluminum cans. My mother and wife also save their cans for me.
The price of scrape metal in Chicago-Land area where I live various but is always around $.32-$.40 a pound. This won’t get me rich, but when you add this to all the other side hustle money making ideas, THEN it adds up.
The two scrap metal recycle centers I like to use are T & C Metal Co. and Elgin Recycle.
I’ve been doing this for years now, but never kept very good track of what I’ve made. I finally decided to write up an article about, and maybe even start keeping track of this.
As I sit here today I trying to remember when I first started this. Sadly, I don’t remember how long it’s been.
Crushing cans
I’ve had my can crusher for years. It does come in handy and is sturdy. If you plan on collecting cans I highly recommend getting one. The Pacific Precision Metals THE CRUSHER Aluminum Can Compactor is the make and model we use in our household. This is what it looks like.
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Where I get cans
I started collecting these myself and just put them aside until I have a trash bag full.
Family
My wonderful mother has also been instrumental in saving cans for me. At least once week I get a shopping bag or two to add to our collection.
Wife
I’m not sure my wife knew this before she married me but this is a picture of her office with a bunch of empty and soon to be empty cans. I caught my son trying to steal some in this picture. Or maybe he just wants to be like daddy and start collecting some for himself.
Personal Finance
Here is the idea I had when I started this.
I’m always looking ways to make extra money.
If this means having to save cans, I’m ok with that. If I have to make my family save their cans too! Even Better!! Now that the kid is helping out. I may just turn this task over to him. After all, what a great way for him to earn an allowance.
This picture is from several years ago. Its a full trash bag of crushed aluminum cans. If I remember correctly this ended up being about $5.00. I don’t remember how much it weighted. This was before I started keeping track of things, but I remember taking a pictures because I wanted an idea of what a full bag would be worth.
What to do now?
Start collecting your cans. Throw them in a trash bag and when you have a full bag bring it to your recycle center and get paid. Go out and buy a can crusher to make your job easier.
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Thank you for reading
Dave Gates
