Living

How to Make a Living Recycling, Trash Isn’t Always Trash

Make a Living Recycling — Making a living can be rather difficult with rising cost and decreasing jobs world wide. There are ways other than a traditional employer to make a living. You can start a business such as freelance writing, house keeping or a number of other options that will get you on your feet in a time of crisis.

When you are examining the ways that you can earn a living when a difficult financial time arises you might just be overlooking all of the possibilities. Can you make a living recycling?

How to Make a Living Recycling, Trash Isn't Always Trash
How to Make a Living Recycling, Trash Isn’t Always Trash

How to Make a Living Recycling

Things such as aluminum, steel and various other metals can be recycled for cash. With enough dedication and determination you can turn recycling into a way for you to make a living.

Ask Yourself Some Questions

Well, let’s take a look at the possibilities to find out. What can you recycle for cash? Various types of aluminum including drink cans and some food cans, steel cans, scrap metals like vent covers or bed rails, copper and brass can all be recycled for cash.

When you begin examining these metals you have to remember that the prices for each metals will vary by type and location. Clean metal is worth more than dirty metal and you when you crush the metal you can carry more in one load than if you leave it in it’s original form.

Begin Slowly

You can start slow in your efforts to make a living recycling so that you aren’t overwhelmed. There are a couple of items that will make life much easier as you travel down the road of scrapping for a living. These items are a truck, trailer, bins and some way to crush the metals you have collected.

Begin by looking around your home for items that you should be recycling anyway but aren’t. Most people often overlook the fact that they are throwing money away since they don’t associated the items they purchase everyday with an investment in the future.

Bins and Sorting

Bins will help you sort out the metals so that you spend less time at the recycling facility and ensure that you get the most income possible since more expensive metals can’t get accidentally mixed with lower paying metals due to a lack of sorting.

The time that you spend dropping items into predesignated bins will reduce the amount of time that you spend waiting for the staff at the recycling center to sort and weigh each metal. The less time it takes you to get in and out of the facility the more time you can spend gathering materials to earn your living.

Where Do You Find Materials to Recycle for Cash?

Finding materials that can be recycled for cash isn’t as difficult as you might think. At home you’ll need a couple bins inside and a couple outside to sort the materials that you find. Chances are even the simple act of purchasing groceries for your family can assist you in finding materials that you can recycle for cash.

How many times a month do you purchase a package of soft drinks? Those aluminum cans can be crushed and thrown in a bin to weigh before you take them off. Weigh the bins when they are empty so you know how much to subtract from the weight to get a more accurate idea of what you should receive for the recycling you are taking.

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Aluminum drink cans aren’t the only thing that you can take off to recycle. Potted meat cans are aluminum as well so throw them in the bin as well. How many times have you purchased canned vegetables or coffee?

When you purchase these items in steel cans you can collect them to recycle. The price for steel isn’t usually very high but when you crush the cans you can take more at one time. The more you take the more it’ll way giving you more money.

The home isn’t the only place that you can find materials to recycle. Cleaning out your car will easily give you a few cans to throw in your bins. Volunteer to help your friends clean out their cars and you can find even more materials. Repairing and replacing items around your home can lead to a variety of items that can be recycled for cash.

Expanding

There will be a number of other opportunities to find materials to recycle. You can check the newspaper to find people that need various services which could including cleaning the yard. If you take the time to find them there are dozens of construction sites and individuals that require clean up crews to take off scrap items.

Finding out the specific requirements for you to clean up these areas can help to increase you income a great deal. You can also take a walk around the neighborhood and pick up some of these items or have family and friends save items for you if they aren’t actively recycling.

Truck and Trailer

Having a truck and trailer will ensure that you have a way to haul large loads to the local recycling center. You can save a little time by checking with the facilities in your area to see if they will take containers to your specified locations and pick them up when they are full.

You may have to take a small deduction on your earnings for the amount of gasoline they use to transport the containers but the time saved could be enough that you can be collecting even more materials to sell to them.

Conclusion

Making a living recycling isn’t impossible in fact it is entirely possible given enough time and dedication. If you’ve recently lost your job then you have nothing but time on your hands so why not go out and earn some money? Remember even those old dead batteries you have lying around the house from the lawnmower and other conveniences can be sold so be sure to explore all the possibilities to have an income stream you can fall back on anytime.

  • What can you do to recycle at home? > What Can I Recycle | Waste Management
  • Can you get paid for recycling? > Get Money For Recycling – Earth911.com
  • What are the things that can be recycled at home? > What to Recycle? List of 11 Recyclable Household Items & Materials | Money Crashers
  • What items can be recycled for money? > How to Make Money Recycling: 6 Everyday Items That Pay Off | the Penny Hoarder
  • Who benefits from recycling? > Benefits of recycling – States of Jersey
  • What should not be recycled? > 7 Surprising Things You Should Not Recycle | PlanetSave
  • Is it worth it to recycle? > Is Recycling Worth It? The Answer Might Surprise You – Bustle
  • How much do we save by recycling? > Why Recycle? – Recycle – Less Is More
  • How much money can you make from recycling? > How to Make $100/Week Recycling Aluminum Cans – Well Kept Wallet
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Published by
Perla Irish