Sustainable Planet Today

If you are like me, your consumption of carbonated beverages leads to an accumulation of aluminum cans. The best way to rid yourself of a stockpile is to recycle.

Many opportunities exist for recycling aluminum cans. In your community you probably have recycling bins available either at your home or in a centralized recycling location. But, did you know that it is simple to make money from your aluminum cans while also helping the environment?

Finding A Metals Recycler. Your first step should be to locate a company that will purchase your cans. It’s a good idea to look in the yellow pages or similar directory under “recycling” or “metals” to determine where these facilities are in your area. Call the metals recycler and ask if they accept aluminum cans. Second, ask if they have preferred acceptance criteria (rinsed, smashed, etc.). The third question to ask is how much they pay per pound of cans. This final question is important especially if you have the choice of more than one location. You want to take your aluminum cans to the facility offering the most money.

Preparing Cans. From your conversation with the metals dealer, you will know in what condition the dealer would like the cans when you arrive. It’s also important to package the cans in bags or barrels that you can easily lift into your truck or car for transportation. Don’t make each bag so heavy that your cannot carry it or that you risk the bag ripping.

What To Expect At The Recycling Center. Because all locations are different, you cannot be sure what procedure each metals dealer will follow unless you’ve called ahead. The basics of selling your aluminum cans goes like this. Depending on the amount of cans you have to sell you will be asked to place them on some form of scale for weighing. Then, the cashier will multiply the pounds of cans by the price given per pound. Finally, you will either be given cash or a check for your aluminum.

Recycling as we all know is important for our environment. No matter how you chose to recycle aluminum cans someone is going to make money from the process. It might as well be you!

Do you have a comment or experience related to recycling aluminum cans? If so, please feel free to leave a comment below and share your thoughts with others.

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