Already saving cans, what else to do???

[treasurekidd]

Hi everyone! I have been saving aluminum cans in my garage for a while now, as well as small amounts of scrap aluminum, copper and copper wire, and brass. I store the crushed cans in yard waste bags and 1 have a few 55 gallon drums for the metals, and I plan on cashing in 3 or 4 times a year.

My question to you is this: What else, if anything, should I be collecting?? I have enough room for quite a bit, but I do not want to get into tons and tons of steel. Should I save PET plastics, steel food cans, or glass bottles? What about paper? Whatever happened to the old fashioned paper drives we did for the scouts as kids? Are there places that still buy paper??

Thanks in advance everyone!

 

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[someotherdude]

As far as I know noone is buying recyclables only scrap and precious metals.

 

[treasurekidd]

Well, after a bit of research, I've decided that I will start saving steel food cans, as well as steel covers from glass food jars (applesauce jars, jelly jars, etc). At .08 to .10 per lb for steel cans, it makes sense to do that instead of glass, paper or plastic, where the prices are so low that I'd need much more volume than I am capable of handling right now. At least with steel. I can save up what comes along and cash it in a the same time as the aluminum.

I'm depending on you pros to verify this. Is my thinking about right? Thanks in advance!!

 

[someotherdude]

yeppers Steel cans stored in steel drums will work just fine also might wanna invest in a cheap sledge hammer and find some solid ground to smash them cans flat that way you can store more of em in a smaller space. Just make sure it's ok with your parents if your younger than say 16. Also when I say solid ground I don't mean mom n dads drive way or concrete garage floor. Just find some hard packed dirt and they'll smash up real nice like.

 

[pygmy]

I wouldn't waste time on steel FOOD cans and lids. You will need to wash them out or garage will stink and attract flies. Profit is minuscule for labour. Over here in Australia water is precious and expensive after a 10 year drought.
Take the dog for a walk ( for example ) and you will notice heavy steel, appliances and metal everywhere in the streets and especially in neighbours yards. Over here 99 % will give it to you if you ask and what you don't see in front might be out the back.
One of my best sources was power cords from discarded appliances, then I took home the smaller appliances to get more bits. Now I take home everything to process ( separate the metals ) to maximise profit.
Today I saw a single car battery in the driveway of a house; I asked for it and any other junk I could LOOK at and MAYBE take away to HELP them out. I came away with 7 batteries, heavy barbeque, gas stove , washing machine and some old burnt Al. pots and pans. Did I clean or wash them , NO.

 

[2muchstuff]

I never used to save steel until a local yard started buying it by the pound instead of the ton. The nuts and bolts that I used to throw away when I took stuff apart now go into a box and gets cashed in. As for plastics, unless you have a 53' trailer full of the stuff, nobody will want it.

 

[treasurekidd]

I guess it'll be steel food cans then. We use them, might as well make a few bucks on them, and I can cash them in at the same scrap yard as the aluminum cans, so it won't be an extra trip. Thank you everyone!!

 

[Ghondi]

Do what a lot of scrappers do, fill things like microwaves and washers/dryers with the steel food cans...saves space and adds weight...

 

[treasurekidd]

I don't really have the room to get into appliances and large scrap items. I just have the garage, so I'm keeping a few barrels, 1 for crushed aluminum cans, 1 for crushed steel food cans, 1 for misc aluminum items, 1 for unstripped power cords and cables, and 1 for misc copper and brass items. I'll just go slow, pick up what I can, ans watch it add up. Thanks!

 

[pygmy]

I rang up the SIMS group the other day and they accept shopping trolleys. This is up to 80lb steel.
Over here lots of trolley's are abandoned in the streets in poor area's if the shopper has no car.

I noticed a couple of interesting things that might help you "grow" or "give birth" to scrap.

When rubbish is dumped on the roadside, other people soon add to the same pile. I allways keep an eye ,early in the morning, on existing piles for any gems that are dumped. With this in mind you can start your own roadside dump and see if others add to it. This idea works best if you start a dump on or near a vacant lot.

Regarding storage of large items;don't. When you get a truck or trailer load sell it immediately.
In a short time people will drop off there unwanted whitegoods , batteries etc at your house to save themselves cartage/tip/disposal money. Put some junk in your driveway to encourage this.

I call these methods "seeding" and found that it works for me .