cash for cans (aluminum)

Robbie085

Anybody remember the guys that used to go around picking cans up in all the fields etc... then bring them somewhere and get paid for them?
why does this not happen any more?
are all the places closed down?

coylemj

Robbie085 wrote: »

Anybody remember the guys that used to go around picking cans up in all the fields etc... then bring them somewhere and get paid for them?
why does this not happen any more?
are all the places closed down?

Aluminium drinks cans these days weigh practically nothing meaning you'd need to collect a few hundred to make a few kgs so I could be wrong but it looks to me like the time and labour required to collect a few euros worth probably means it isn't worth the effort.

There used to be a lot more metal in drinks cans when they came out first. There is a scene in the movie 'Jaws' where, in a display of raw muscle power, Robert Shaw (Quint) crushes a drinks can with one hand. This is probably lost on younger folk but back in the 1970s you needed a fair amount of strength to do that.

the groutch

yeah, it's about €600 per tonne, 60c per kg, so about a cent per can.
not really worth it for the effort.

Glenalla

Robbie085 wrote: »

Anybody remember the guys that used to go around picking cans up in all the fields etc... then bring them somewhere and get paid for them?
why does this not happen any more?
are all the places closed down?

I visit Norway regularly and noticed guys collecting bottles. I asked a colleague what was going on and was told these guys were out of work and this was a good way to make money as they got paid for each bottle. Welfare system in Norway is totally different than here.

L1011

Being paid to return cans here ended in the 1980s. Hasn't happened any time recently.

Bottles being returned abroad is due to return fees on the bottle, often 5 or 10c or local currency equivalent. This is the same as used to be done here decades ago but was removed when plastic bottles were brought in as they were deemed disposable - but its done elsewhere as an anti-littering initiative.

Realistically most people use so few bottles that its not worth returning them themselves, so it works out as kids, homeless people, etc being used as a free anti-littering taskforce...

Tabnabs

Glenalla wrote: »

I visit Norway regularly and noticed guys collecting bottles. I asked a colleague what was going on and was told these guys were out of work and this was a good way to make money as they got paid for each bottle. Welfare system in Norway is totally different than here.

Norway started a cash-back for empty bottles in 1902. They've a long tradition of it and kids used to often supplement their pocket money with collecting bottles thrown away. Norway has a bottle recycling level in excess of 90%. It's about 15 cents per bottle (up to 0.5L). This also applies to cans and plastic bottles. Of course, you pay an equivalent tax on the bottle at the time of purchase, so the ordinary punter doesn't make any additional money, just gets their tax back if they recycle the items.