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You are likely aware that diverting waste from landfills is a “green” practice that can benefit the planet. But did you know that recycling everyday items — from metal cans to cooking oil — can also put some green in your wallet?
With a little time, effort, and know-how, you can recycle the following 21 items to generate some extra cash. After all, one person’s trash can be another person’s treasure. Read on to learn more.
Key Points
• Recycling everyday items, such as cans, bottles, and electronics, can earn money while benefiting the environment.
• Items such as cooking oil, hair, and gift cards can also be recycled for cash, providing additional income opportunities.
• Nonfinancial benefits of recycling include reducing landfill waste, preventing pollution, and conserving natural resources, contributing to environmental sustainability.
• Companies such as TerraCycle offer fundraising opportunities that involve recycling trash, which can benefit schools and nonprofits.
• Selling used items, such as clothes, toys, and bed sheets, online or at consignment shops can provide extra income, promoting a circular economy.
Is Recycling Financially Worth It?
The practice of waste diversion can help reduce our growing trash problem and be well worth it for businesses and local governments. But whether it’s worth it as a way of making money from home (or mostly from home) will depend on several factors.
You may need to do the following:
• Seek out a recycling center or collection point.
• Prepare the items for recycling (washing and sorting) according to the center’s specifications.
• Make a tax-deductible donation rather than receiving a cash payment.
Recycling can be a positive way to earn a bit of extra money during your off-hours from your full-time job. If you are a freelancer, you’ll need to determine whether the time spent is worth it, as it might take away from higher-paying hourly work.
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How Much Do You Get per Item You Recycle?
Recycling can become a green way to earn money, but it can be a challenge to estimate how much you’ll make.
Redemption centers for clothes, glass bottles, or scrap metal pay varying amounts from state to state. For example, in New York State, you can get 5 cents for every returned aluminum can, while Michigan offers 10 cents per can.
You can do a little research to determine where you’ll get the most cash for what’s otherwise considered trash and which items yield the most money back.
💡 Quick Tip: Typically, checking accounts don’t earn interest. However, some accounts do, and online banks are more likely than brick-and-mortar banks to offer you the best rates.
21 Everyday Items That You Can Recycle for Money
Whether your goal is downsizing your life and decluttering, making additional dollars, or both, purging your household of unused items can lead to a cleaner environment and a fuller piggy bank.
Wondering what you can recycle for money? Here are 21 ideas:
1. Cans
On the list of what to recycle for money, aluminum beverage cans are typically near the top. They are light and easily compacted and can often be redeemed at your local supermarket for 5 or 10 cents a piece.
Beyond bagging up the recyclable cans in your home, you can collect them from your workplace, friends, and family members. Or you might find many after an event, such as a block party or community concert.
2. Glass Bottles
As with cans, you can collect around 5-10 cents for each glass bottle you return to a store. Retailers may require you to empty and rinse them before returning.
3. Plastic Bottles
Another item to recycle for money: plastic bottles, which are everywhere. Did you know that an estimated 5 million of them are being thrown away every hour in the United States? You can earn around 5-10 cents for every plastic bottle recycled, depending on where you live.
4. Scrap Metal
Another item that can be recycled for money is scrap metal. It’s one of the more lucrative items to sell. At some scrap yards, you can get over $2 per pound for copper and 40-80 cents per pound for aluminum. To find it, look for local construction sites where workers might appreciate you hauling it away. You can also check local community boards, such as Freecycle and Craigslist.
5. Cardboard
Many consumers get a lot of home deliveries, resulting in numerous boxes waiting to be recycled. You can get cash for your cardboard, with bales typically worth $20-$40 and the average scrap yard rate usually fixed at around one cent per pound.,
You might not be capable of storing (or baling) large amounts of cardboard. But you can research local places that will buy cardboard boxes in relatively small quantities. There are websites, such as BoxCycle, that will buy your cardboard and reuse it.
If you reach out to friends, family, offices, and restaurants, you can accumulate a decent sized bundle to tie up and sell. You might also check any local college campuses after move-in day.
6. Junk Cars
If you want to cash in on your rusty pickup truck, a scrap yard might pay for it, perhaps basing the price on the metal they can recycle from it. There are also a lot of companies that will buy your car regardless of its condition. Do an online search and review the possibilities. You may also find charities that you know and like that will pick up your car and provide you with a receipt for the donation. This could result in a significant tax savings if you itemize and include it in your charitable contribution deduction.
7. Clothes
Perhaps it’s time to clean out your closet to make some cash. You can sell your gently used clothes for quick cash. Websites (such as Poshmark, thredUP, eBay, and Etsy), in-person consignment stores, and hybrid businesses, such as The RealReal, are just some of the options.
8. Cooking Oil
When you’re considering what you can recycle to make money, cooking oil likely doesn’t come to mind. But if you own or run any type of restaurant, there are companies that will pay for rancid or used cooking oil. It can be reused as biofuel.
9. Hair
Hair can be a surprisingly lucrative thing to repurpose. Wig makers and hair extension companies may pay $150-$600 for long, uncolored human hair. Typically, you need at least 10 inches to sell. In addition to searching for wig and extension businesses online, you might even find buyers on Craigslist and eBay.
10. Makeup Containers
Many beauty supply stores will take back your old lipstick, eyeshadows, and other makeup containers. They’ll recycle them properly and, in many cases, give you cash-back reward points toward a product purchase.
11. Gift Cards
Sometimes, a well-meaning person will give you a gift card you have no intention of using. If you have unused gift cards lying in a drawer, there are websites, such as CardCash and Raise, that will buy them from you or provide a marketplace where you can sell them.
These websites may collect a fee, and you won’t get what your card was worth. But better to collect some cash than have the card collect dust in a drawer.
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12. Electronics
Some electronics contain hazardous materials and can’t be disposed of in your regular trash or recycling. But that doesn’t mean that taking care of e-waste is a losing proposition. Certain companies will offer money for your old electronics: computers, rechargeable batteries, and calculators, to name a few. Apple may let you trade in a laptop, tablet, or other devices for a credit, or recycle it for free.
Just make sure the company isn’t greenwashing, a practice whereby companies profess to be environmentally friendly with their e-waste but actually aren’t. Do a bit of research before you hand off your electronics.
13. Cell Phones
Need more inspiration for things you can recycle for money? There are financial (on top of environmental) benefits to not just tossing your old phone. Many cell phone providers, such as AT&T and Verizon, will give you a gift card or vouchers for a phone you’re no longer using., These can be used toward purchasing a new product.
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14. Car Batteries
Has your car battery stopped working? This is another item you may be able to recycle and make money. There are auto part stores and junk yards that will give you cash for your car battery — anywhere from 12-26 cents per pound. Some auto part retailers will give a store credit toward future purchases.
15. Ink Cartridges
There are many office supply stores, including Staples and Office Depot,, that will recycle your used ink and toner cartridges and offer cash-back rewards.
There may be limits on how many ink cartridges you can bring back per month and certain spending requirements in order to qualify for the rewards.
16. Wine Corks
Do you love drinking wine? If so, don’t toss the corks when you open a bottle. Some craft enthusiasts, manufacturers, and other businesses are willing to buy popped wine corks. Artistic types can turn them into anything from picture frames to wall art and beyond. By listing yours on sites such as eBay and Craigslist, you can get about five cents per cork or more.
17. Holiday Lights
Those strands of holiday lights that once brought you cheer can now bring you cash. You can box up and ship your old, broken lights to Holiday LEDS and receive 10% off your next purchase.
18. Toys
You can earn money selling gently used toys to consignment shops, second-hand shops, and online. You’ll give your budget a boost and bring joy to another child.
19. Bed Sheets
Here’s another way to recycle and earn some cash: If you recently upgraded your mattress from, say, a full to a king, you can sell your used bed sheets, as well as your towels, curtains, and other fabrics, on sites such as Facebook Marketplace and eBay.
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20. Tennis Balls
Around 125 million tennis balls get tossed out as garbage in the U.S. every year, but you might be able to make some money on them. One savvy group recycled more than 60,000 used tennis balls and raised $11,000 in funding for its efforts. See if you can try your own version of her clever idea.
21. Trash
While this way to recycle and earn cash may not directly benefit your bank account, it’s a good one to know about. Small businesses, schools, and nonprofits with a lot of garbage can turn it into a fundraising opportunity. Companies such as TerraCycle offer fundraising opportunities for schools and nonprofits by awarding points for qualifying shipments of hard-to-recycle waste. For most participating programs, you can earn 100 points per pound, with 2,500 points redeemable for a $25 donation to your school or charity.
The Takeaway
With a little research and effort, you can turn your used and unwanted items into extra money. Recycling items can be a big win for your pocketbook and the planet. Whether you focus on collecting cans, unwanted clothes, cardboard, or corks, you can wind up with some extra cash while doing good.
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FAQ
How many items are recycled a year?
America recycles around 69.1 million tons of material a year. Paper makes up about 66.5% of recycled materials, followed by metals (12.6%), wood (4.5%), plastics (4.5%), and glass (4.4%).
What can you recycle for money?
There are lots of items you can recycle for money. These include cans, metal, old cars, used clothing, electronics, and even human hair and cooking oil.
What are the nonfinancial benefits of recycling?
Even if you don’t get paid, recycling reduces the amount of waste sent to a landfill and prevents pollution. It also conserves energy and natural resources.
Photo credit: iStock/Eric Panades Bosch
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