Sign of the times

**Jayne** · 08-12-2011, 10:00 AM

Dh is in the HVAC business, so we make a lot of trips to the scrap yard with old units and I always see people with bags of soda cans so they are making good money...

**freebs** · 08-12-2011, 11:04 AM

our cans are paying about .65¢ a lb here. Now everyone needs to be on the look out for the AC units. They are going to pass a law that if you are not an AC contractor you will not be able to turn in any AC units due to all the theft of them!

**imagine** · 08-12-2011, 11:56 AM

Originally Posted by freebs

our cans are paying about .65¢ a lb here. Now everyone needs to be on the look out for the AC units. They are going to pass a law that if you are not an AC contractor you will not be able to turn in any AC units due to all the theft of them!

you can recycle ac units? Even broken ones? Tell me more

**nuisance26** · 08-12-2011, 12:30 PM

~Yeah, what's so valuable about an AC? We have one sitting in our yard because we keep missing the hazardous waste recycling day.~

**madkat2618** · 08-12-2011, 02:13 PM

When we lived in New Brunswick, they used to pay $.05 per can, bottle, even juice boxes. DD & I would take the dog for a walk, and she would carry a bag with her, and pick up all the cans & bottles she could find. There were lots of wooded areas, so she would find lots. We'd wait until we had a couple of garbage bags full, and turn them in. DD would make between $10-20 each time. Pretty good spending money for an 8 year old! Plus we were helping the environment by cleaning them up, and recycling them.

**dinah** · 08-12-2011, 02:46 PM

maybe he makes something with the cans. maybe he's an artist?

**frugalfranny** · 08-12-2011, 04:34 PM

In this area they QUICKLY learn your garbage day and go down the street checking out your recycle container.........I never have any cans, save my own.

Don't know if it is illegal or not.............but who is around to
enforce it anyway????

We have more serious crime that I HOPE they are working on........

Anything helps in this economy but we don't get much per lb. and aren't charged a deposit when we buy soda.

**jettsmom** · 08-12-2011, 04:42 PM

AC units have copper. That's probably why you have to be contractor now to recycle them. People steal the copper from the units. We have an empty hospital and you can see where people have gone on the roof and ripped the units apart.

We have a guy that comes around monthly looking for metal. We usually set ours aside for him. For us, it's free trash hauling. I don't have to deal with getting rid of it.

**FrugalKate** · 08-12-2011, 07:03 PM

I live in the sticks and have been seeing people pick through the recycle bins lately. Never used to see that before.

A neighbor of mine threw out a 2 year old baby crib in PERFECT condition....needless to say it was gone 5 minutes after he put it out on the curb. It's amazing what people will throw out on the curb.

**Paws** · 08-12-2011, 07:32 PM

Originally Posted by Momto5RN

in some areas its illegal to take from recycling cans - esp if the town has some sort of a contract for pick up thats based on how much money they expect to make from what is picked up

its illegal around here

It's illegal around my little neck of the woods too.
Even if it wasn't, when we have them, we keep our aluminum cans. DH takes them and whatever scrap he may have came across and/or car parts when he has enough for a load.

**Momto5RN** · 08-12-2011, 09:02 PM

re the illegal or not and hoping the police have better to do to enforce than that , luckily not alot of crime in my small town and thats only the thought IF you dont mind your taxes going up

'
if the people collecting the recycling as a company do so to resell it as part of the business and what they are collecting goes down because of people take it out of recycling bin ( which here is given to us by town, so what is in it is owned by town ) they are going to charge more next contract renewal because of their lost lbs of cans bottles etc in the end the towns paying more so our taxes go up so yes i would be upset to see someone taking from my bin

there was a TV show on the other night about 2 brothers and one son that go thru trash to fix and resell or make art etc from things . had the son dumpster diving . i think it was called dirty something or trash something .

i think technically its illegal to go thru curbside trash here too but no one really cares ts less the trash man have to take if they pull out old electronics for parts or old furnitire to refinish most people put that type of stuff to the side so the 3-5 guys that go around looking can see it and get it quick . I am all for preventing things from landfills and someone making some $ on something i cannot use as long as its not costing me money in the end - which taking the recyclables would.

we dont drink sodas or beer etc so ours is usually filled with milk cartons lol

**shoiji** · 08-13-2011, 11:43 AM

Where I live in the morning I see someone walking around with a small garbage can picking up trash. Have no idea why the person does this but see him walking around parking lots of different businesses. Always wonder if he is actually paid to clean up the areas or is an artist.