Storing aluminum cans for recycling/sale

[Bird]

Buy a cheap can crusher and crush them as you use them and put in large plastic bags. You can haul a lot of crushed cans in just about any vehicle. Keep them dry though.

That's what I did when I had a 40' x 60' shop building. I mounted the can crusher on the wall and had a big plastic bag hung on a cardboard box under the can crusher. I'd take them to town to sell when I had 2 or 3 bags full.

 

[Captain Dirty]

Buy a cheap can crusher and crush them as you use them and put in large plastic bags. You can haul a lot of crushed cans in just about any vehicle. Keep them dry though- once when I was waiting for my cans to be weighed, they deducted 25% off of the weight of a guy's cans because they were wet - has some water in them.

Stand the can on a board, block, or flat rock, drop an 8 pound sledge, soil tamper, or similar on it. That disk is worth $0.0078!
The conventional wisdom in the Peoples' Democratic Republic of Massachusetts is that the scrap value (Quoted today as $0.25 per pound, and that is before any allowance for water, dirt, or other contaminants) is not worth the fuel costs of hauling it to someone who will accept it.

 

[Bird]

Stand the can on a board, block, or flat rock, drop an 8 pound sledge, soil tamper, or similar on it. That disk is worth $0.0078!
The conventional wisdom in the Peoples' Democratic Republic of Massachusetts is that the scrap value (Quoted today as $0.25 per pound, and that is before any allowance for water, dirt, or other contaminants) is not worth the fuel costs of hauling it to someone who will accept it.

I agree . . . if you make a special trip to sell them, or if you take a small amount when you go to sell them. Of course, now that we're back in town, I just throw them in the recycling bin here at home and set that bin out for our garbage men about once every 2 weeks.

 

[Ford850]

I crush them every week or so, and fill 50lb sunflower seed or dog food bags with the crushed cans. Then the bags get stacked in a corner of the shed and get hauled to the recycler when I have 5 - 10 bags.

 

[ray66v]

I stopped giving them to the trash company, for recycling, to find out exactly how much money I was throwing away.

I stacked aluminum cans in the upstairs of my barn, for several years.

Last fall, I took 14 large garbage bags of pop cans, to the recycler, who hit me with the rip off, "excessive moisture charge", even though there was no visible moisture. When I questioned them, they said, they can't be completely dry. I cut one open, and showed them, they were completely dry. They said, their buyer will charge them for excessive moisture, so they are charging me. Such an honorable profession. :irked:

Even after being ripped off, I still left with $54.

Next time, I will be adding water to them. :thumbsup:

 

[Ford850]

I've never heard of the excessive moisture claim. Maybe it's already built in to the prices at other places. What's the going rate for others right now? It's $0.50 at the recycler I use.

 

[dragoneggs]

Good point. Never crossed my slow mind to crush them.

Make sure the place you are selling them to will take them crushed. Some do some don't.

 

[turnkey4099]

Will those plastic bags stand up to being store outside? I'm thinking I'd probably need to buy/build something to keep them in. Maybe I'll just go get 3-4 big industrial trash cans and be through with it.

I crushed them into 35gal barrels, store barrels outside. A 35 gal barrel full of cans is easily carried, unloaded.

 

[Stimw]

I have been scraping since I was 8 years old (now 68) when I would collect old TV transformers and disassemble them for the copper!
Then I would burn it, they wouldn't take it with insulation. Now they won't take it if you burn it!!!
Once you start scraping for a hobby you will find material as you go through your day.
Collecting is only part of it. It needs to be prepped to get the most for it and unless you need the money right away you need to sit on it until the market is up.
I save all cans and I crush them with an 8 lb sledge hammer. I set up the cans and tamp them flat with the end of the hammer.
When I lived in the city one day I set up a couple dozen cans to crush on my carport. The Mailman came walking up and said "Are you going bowling?"
I have some 55 gal plastic barrels and some smaller trash cans that I keep them in.
They will take away for water and I have seen where they pay more for crushed.

 

[johneic]

Here is what I use to crush, a pneumatic can crusher, in the kitchen, waste basket underneath.