Aluminum Can Crusher

[Rhaynefall]

I know it's cheaper to do it with your foot, but I have a lot of foot problems and spent my whole childhood stomping cans and hated being forced to do it by my mom.

Does anyone know where I can get a cheap heavy duty one? Non-electric is best. Would a hardware store (like Ace) have them or is on-line my only hope? I'm afraid to get one without touching it, as I don't want it to be a lightweight piece of junk that will break easily.

Thanks.

[pita1213]

bed bath and beyond carries them in their gadgets section. if you don't have one of those nearby, the smaller hardware stores like ace and true value would probably have one.

[MandiDawn]

ok - gotta ask - why do you need to crush aluminum cans? Here in Mich we recycle them so we don't crush them. Is it law there that you have to crush them?
Just curious . . .

[Rhaynefall]

I take them to the recycling plant for $. I can fit more crushed cans in a garbage bag than uncrushed cans, therefore decreasing the trips I have to make to the plant because I run out of room to store them in my shed. So I'm saving gas $, room, and getting a bigger payout when I take them if they're crushed. It's just my personal preference.

Growing up, we saved all of our cans, and went on long walks around the country roads with sacks and sticks picking up cans. We went once a year with a big 'ole truck (with the 'taking a cow to the slaughterhouse' slats on the back to give us more vertical space) of crushed aluminum cans, and mom would get $600 in a bad year of collecting. She used the money for our back to school stuff and Christmas presents. I can remember stomping cans for hours to make them flat. I hated it.

[Mamawolf]

My mother-in-law has one that is mounted to the workbench in her garage. It's a VERY old one, though. I would suggest checking a flea market, also!

[MandiDawn]

well that makes sense - I was just curious
In Mich we pay $0.10 each time we buy a can, so when we return them we get $0.10 back for each can. But they can't be crushed since the machines won't take back crushed cans (can't read the bar code if they are crushed) . That's why I was wondering . . . my friends in Ohio and Illonois just throw their cans away I think. I should tell them to save them and recycle . . .

[Rhaynefall]

Yeah.. You can get 30 cents a pound or more for them! I've gone and only gotten $4, but that's better than $4 in the trash!

[Rhaynefall]

From Earth 911:

Each year, the aluminum industry pays out over $800 million dollars for empty aluminum cans - that's a lot of money that can go to organizations, like Habitat for Humanity, the Boy or Girl Scouts of America, or even a local school. Money earned from recycling cans helps people help themselves and their communities. Recycling helps build new homes, pays for a group trip, supports a project or buys a lunch!

A perfect example of this is the Cans for Habitat program. Through a national partnership between the Aluminum Association and Habitat for Humanity International, aluminum cans are recycled via a network of drop-off locations to raise money for Habitat for Humanity to build decent, affordable housing with low-income families. To think, just by recycling a can once destined for the landfill, you are keeping our local environment clean, providing a needed resource for the aluminum recycling process, and most importantly, helping provide local housing to those in need. It's a win-win for the individual, community, business, industry and the environment.

Tossing away an aluminum can wastes as much energy as pouring out half of that can's volume of gasoline

A used aluminum can is recycled and back on the grocery shelf as a new can, in as little as 60 days. That's closed loop recycling at its finest!

Making new aluminum cans from used cans takes 95 percent less energy and 20 recycled cans can be made with the energy needed to produce one can using virgin ore.

Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to keep a 100-watt bulb burning for almost four hours or run your television for three hours.

Last year 54 billion cans were recycled saving energy equivalent to 15 million barrels of crude oil - America's entire gas consumption for one day.



It takes about 34 cans to equal a pound. Cans are worth about a penny a can. My local plant usually pays 34 cents a pound, so that makes sense. I remember one bonus Christmas one year that cans were going for 68 cents a pound!

[pink23]

Hey guys, I would recommend the Aluminum Can Crusher I found online. I'll provide the link later.

[pink23]

Alright, here's the link I found, try it out.

[fernykins]

That one looks like a nice one...........
Fern

[savvy_sniper]

If you have local freecycle groups, I would ask for one before spending money on one. You never know, someone might be happy to give you theirs! You would need to check out the rules. You often have to list something to give away before you can post a wanted listing.