# aluminum cans



## timmie

I was wondering if anyone else saves al. cans ; and sells them to help make ends meet?


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## UncleJoe

We don't use anything that comes in aluminum cans but I have a friend that recycles them. Last I talked to him about it he was getting $0.65/lb. If you use a lot it seems like it would be worth doing.


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## jeff47041

I save my aluminum cans. But only because I hate to waste anything. I rarely drink pop, so it takes me a couple of months to fill a little plastic grocery bag of cans.

I do save all of my scrap from jobs. (aluminum, copper, steel) I have a scrap pile and every February, I haul in the aluminum and steel. I say that I do it in Feb to see if I can pay my propane bill with it.

I have been saving my copper for a few years. I just have it taking up space in one of my buildings-I call it my retirement account. 

I appreciate seeing people at functions digging through the trash cans retrieving cans that people have thrown away. ( As long as they are not throwing the trash on the ground to get to the cans) I see it as someone willing to work to get extra money and not let the cans go to waste.


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## hiwall

I collect and sell brass.


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## SouthCentralUS

We put everything that the recycling center will accept all mixed together in a large bin. About once a month we take it to the center and the disabled people they hire unload it and we drive off. They separate the glass, paper, cardboard and cans themselves. We don't make money but know we have helped some people keep jobs and kept recyclables out of the landfill.


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## weedygarden

*Yes*

I save cans, but since soda is just full of yucky stuff, I rarely drink it. It takes me a long time to fill up a trash bag. Years! But I am so used to trying to save them, I can't see myself throwing them away. I could put them in the recycling bin, but I don't. I have a trash can with a lid that I collect them in.

The other thing about aluminum cans is that you can cut them apart and make alcohol stoves from them. I keep thinking I am going to, but I haven't yet.


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## tsrwivey

We save them & donate them to a local church. My oldest daughter used to cash them in. It takes A LOT of cans to amount to much.


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## goshengirl

We recycle regularly. $0.55/lb 
Doesn't bring in much, but I've got a special fund for some plumbing work I'd like to have done, and that's what it's been going towards for the last few years. Almost there. 

We also turn in any metal we find in the yard or creek. We've got it almost all cleaned up, but when we first bought our place it was practically a junk yard. Even though it's all rusted, I can get a little bit for it.

Oh, and with the cans, I've also thought about saving a bunch and cutting them into shingles for a small shed.


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## weedygarden

Goshengirl, I have thought about using them for some sort of construction.

Decades ago I babysat for the family that collected the trash in my hometown and surrounding communities. They gleaned many things from the trash and at one time thought they would make a log cabin look playhouse for their girls. Since aluminum can't be soldered, I don't think they ever figured it out.

Besides using them for shingles for the roof, they could be used like shingles for siding too. I'll bet others have come up with other clever ways of using them.

Check these ideas out:

http://www.inspirationgreen.com/aluminum-can-construction.html

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-Shingles-and-Siding-Out-of-Aluminum-Cans-Bee/

Aluminum cans have been used to make solar heaters.
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SpaceHeating/GregCanCol/GregCanCo.htm

I also took a 3 hour class last summer on making jewelry from soda cans. It involved using punches.


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## CulexPipiens

A 34 gallon garbage can full of crushed cans just netted us $25. Not exactly big money, but our other option is to send them out with the recyclables and get nothing. We've got a similar load of steel that needs to get brought it. Less money per lb but more weight per volume so we'll see how that comes out. Out best haul is usually copper but it's also the hardest for us to get a hold of in any quantities.


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## rhrobert

I save aluminum cans to make solar heaters. Used to recycle them, but ongoing repayment is much better.


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## Tweto

2 years ago I took aluminum cans to the recycler and received $125 for 3 truck loads. It took me 5 years to collect that many. It paid the gas to drive the 80 miles there and back, 3 times and paid for dinner for the wife an me.


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## tsrwivey

We save them & donate them to a local church. My oldest daughter used to cash them in. It takes 34 pop cans to make a pound, thats A LOT of cans to amount to much money. If you have to drive any distance, your profit can be eaten up pretty quickly.

We grew up saving cans, it's just kinda ingrained in us. We even have a special place built into the cabinets for them.


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## TheLazyL

Aluminum cans, yes.

Damaged pistol & rifle brass, yes.

Spent primers, yes.

Lead, no.


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## ZoomZoom

I take all of the metals to the recycle center. A pickup load normally gets me about $50-75.

LazyL - For the spent primers, is that considered brass to a recycle center? I have about 40# and at current pricing of $1.45 per pound, they may be on the next load to the center.


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## LincTex

TheLazyL said:


> Lead, no.


You probably do recycle lead, just not back to a smelter for "money".

I would like to know how to quickly and efficiently get the lead from berms at the firing range.


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## TheLazyL

ZoomZoom said:


> ...LazyL - For the spent primers, is that considered brass to a recycle center? I have about 40# and at current pricing of $1.45 per pound, they may be on the next load to the center.


Yes they gave me brass price for the spent primers.


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## TheLazyL

LincTex said:


> You probably do recycle lead, just not back to a smelter for "money".
> 
> I would like to know how to quickly and efficiently get the lead from berms at the firing range.


True. Lead does get recycled but not for cash.


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## Sentry18

Here every house has two rolling dumpsters; one for garbage and one for mixed recycling. Both dumpsters have bar-codes on them that scan when the truck comes to pick them up. The monthly rate you pay for garbage pick up is reduced in subsequent months if you also recycle. If you choose not to recycle then you just pay the full rate. IIRC the Mrs. said they take something like $24 off the monthly bill because we recycle.


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## GrinnanBarrett

We are a bunch of old recyclers so we don't keep them around long enough to get very many of them. Also I don't drink soda anymore so it cuts way down on the aluminum we bring in. If you move a lot of cold drinks go for it. I do know one guy who works concessions and he totes home a bunch of crushed cans to resell.


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## LincTex

Sentry18 said:


> Both dumpsters have bar-codes on them that scan when the truck comes to pick them up. If you choose not to recycle then you just pay the full rate.


What stops people from keeping their recycle bin stuffed to the top with garbage? Unless they are using an inspector right there on the spot (or some mega computer that can ID items), no one would know.


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## Sentry18

The garbage trucks are automatic but the recycling trucks are not, someone actually walks over flip the lid open in hooks it up to the truck. I presume they look inside. But it's not about weight it's just about the effort. When I drive down the street in my neighborhood on trash day it looks like about 80% of the people are pushing those cans out to the curb.


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## BlueShoe

I pick up cans on the road pretty much where ever I am. I keep a bucket in my trunk and will walk down a section of road and back to the car and often fill it up. When I find one, I stomp it flat and "file" it in the bucket. I have no idea why I decided to start doing it (bored I guess) and haven't cashed any in. People make fun of me for it, but I just laugh with them. Most cans are beer cans because people don't want them in the vehicle while driving. I'd guess Mt Dew is second. Where I am Monster is pretty common too.

Yesterday I noticed that Bud tall boys are now 25 ounces. You get 1 extra ounce of beer. artydance: I get excited when I find one of the heavier beer cans in the shape of a bottle. I've always watched the road as I walk. I found a solid silver eagle from a necklace a couple yrs back. Before that I found a gift card with $12 still on it. Before that $6 and a drivers license of a girl who worked at Hooters. I know it was Hooters because I took it back to her address and she answered the door in her outfit.

My greatest roadside score was 5-6 large wrenches (1-1/4" to 2-7/8" or so), two lathe chucks, two pro heat guns, a pro flexible light with magnetic base and a power supply. It was all laying 60 feet down a steep bank and it was work hauling it up the hill. I found a Rooster and Hen knife this summer.


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## crabapple

I collect all kinds of metal, I keep most of it, but sale the scrap, that can not be used in the shop.
All stock metal can be reused in a machine shop, welding & blacksmith shop, even melted down to form new parts.
Cans I would sale.


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## Hooch

I take a bag with me every time I go on my walks n hikes with the dog. I pick up all cans, glass and plastic to sell back. I keep 3 regular size trash cans for each of them and when they are almost full I turn it in. I just turned in the recycling this last weekend and made $17 n change. The cans n glass wasnt full but it was at least 3/4 on glass n half cans crushed..so it was close enough. 

The majority of what I turn in is what I find along the roads n beaches so Its a win win and being single on my income, every bit helps. 

Some cool finds I had this year was a nice folding knife, a few bucks in change..and I actually found a beer bottle on the beach with a message in it. It was corked with scented candle wax. The message was some rambling about some man who loves his daughter even though he believed his genes were modified by the aliens who have abducted him in 1965 I think he said. They took her too after she was born. So...knowing the people of this area..it is probably some drunk rambling some nonsense but we do have a huge population with mental health issues as well. Or someone is just screwing around. It was a fun find tho  

I found a shoe on the beach this last weekend that looked like it had been in teh water for awhile. Made me wonder if it was one from japan..from the tsumani. Anyways, it was a womans style, no writing I could see as it was all worn out. Were supposed to get stuff from japan soonish...we already had a boat wash up. Using the numbers on the boat it was determined to belong to a high school in Japan. Neat story that is...


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## LincTex

masterspark said:


> I'd love to see how you've done that. Someone recently posted a link to a company that does it, looks cool but I'd rather build one myself. How well does it work?


It works OK....

http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/f16/heat-your-home-soda-cans-sure-22969/#post312511


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## Caribou

LincTex said:


> You probably do recycle lead, just not back to a smelter for "money".
> 
> I would like to know how to quickly and efficiently get the lead from berms at the firing range.


A friend of mine used to screen the sand at the range and then cast his own bullets.


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## LincTex

Caribou said:


> A friend of mine used to screen the sand at the range and then cast his own bullets.


Last I heard from a licensed firing range owner/operator, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (our very own EPA) requires the dirt berms to be hauled away for processing at an approved facility.

At the rate I use my own personal firing range (at my own property), it might be worthwhile to dig the lead out of it after 20 years or so....


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## rhrobert

masterspark said:


> I'd love to see how you've done that. Someone recently posted a link to a company that does it, looks cool but I'd rather build one myself. How well does it work?


I see Linc posted a link as well, but here is the first video I ever saw 



 his is a 64 can unit, and the one at our shack is a 200 can, with a few variations.

It pumps out some good heat on a sunny day, and some heat even on slightly overcast days. A small computer case fan pulls the air in, althugh some people say that mounting the fan on the box and pushing it in works better...I don't know if that is true.

If you google or ixquick "build a pop can solor heater" you'll come up with numerous articles and tutorials. Using recycled materials you can do this for low or no cost heat.

Hope this helps. My son is busy collecting some more cans, and we'll take photos as that one is built and post them.


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