scrap metal - old beer cans

[kia cat]

is it worth saving these up to sell?
I'm guessing they're mostly aluminium. Anyone tried collecting them to sell to a dealer. Got about a shopping basket full at the moment.

[factor-fiction]

I doubt you'll get more than a few pence for a shopping basket full. In fact I doubt a merchant would be interested in anything less than 1000 cans.
Do you have a recycling facility/collection?

[rowanwitch]

A large transit van full of crushed cans £60 apparently so not really worth it... most of the places that buy them only want huge loads, you could try your local scrap dealer and see if he will give you a price.

[douglas9401]

The price for compacted and baled aluminium cans in January averaged £970/tonne

http://www.letsrecycl...metals/aluminium-cans

[rowanwitch]

Thats a lot of cans....

[starone]

There are several scrap merchants who collect around here but they don't even look at the cans which are put out in the recycling bins. I am sure they would take them if it was worth it.

[bibblebub]

one tonne of aluminium cans works out at about 65000 cans

(if the figures i got are accurate)

[boxtops]

The charity I'm involved with has a large collection bin which they collect every few months - rarely more than £50/£60, you need a heck of a lot of them to make it worth while. Put them out for recycling.

[Cantthinkofone]

(( but they don't even look at the cans which are put out in the recycling bins. ))

They are not allowed to touch them.

A friend took a couple of Bin bags with crush cans into the local scrap yard and got a Fiver

[starone]

That's interesting cantthinketc. Might be worth saving if you were really hard up. And you could ask the neighbours if they had any they could contribute. They don't weigh much and if you squash them down really hard they don't take up much room. I think you can buy a thingy which will squash them down really small for you. Alternatively a good heavy boot might be better as the object is to get money not to spend it on gadgets.

[Cantthinkofone]

He collects them up from the road outside and he has a lad that drinks cans of coke so as he gets them he stands on them and puts them in a bin bag in the shed and near Christmas nips round to the local scrap yard.

[EDDIE51]

Yes as long as they are Aluminium they have scrap value . But you need to crush them to reduce volume , there are can crushers available on line and in shops. They are worth around £1000 per Tonne ( £1 per Kg) one can does not weigh much , so your shopping basket full is probably only a £1 worth at most. I woud weigh a can on your kitchen scales and then you can see how many you need for a Kg.

[bednobs]

"might be worth it if you are really hard up"
or if you are really hard up, don't buy beer :)

[gingejbee]

One standard beer can (440ml) weighs in at 17gm.

[tamborine]

crush underfoot & sell to scrap or bin for council to do same; 1p can ?

[bookbinder]

I was in New York in 1989, and I saw men (who looked as if they might be sleeping rough) picking beer cans out of litter bins and filling a plastic sack with them. It said on every beer can that it was worth 5 cents, so it must have been worth somebody's while, even then, to collect them. It's a pity that cans in the UK don't have a return value. It would help to solve the litter problem.

[EDDIE51]

Didn't Tesco have recycle bins that paid 1 clubcard point for every 4 cans recycled ? what happened to it ?

[starone]

I expect people were too lazy to bother to save them for Tesco, Eddie. However, now that things are getting a bit more desperate perhaps they will reinstate the collection.

[EDDIE51]

So , 1 can weighs 17grams and 1Kg of scrap Aluminium is £1 so each can is worth around 1.7p I must see 100 as litter every day . 1,7 x 100 = £1.70
could be worth picking them up and saving them, would add up over a few months. (I actually know someone that used to do this)

[starone]

I've seen pictures of homeless people picking them up and taking them out of bins in America as bookbinder says. Hope it doesn't get as bad as that here, but there are a hell of a lot of them wasted. It might be worthwhile if you have the patience and time.