We are charged money known as California Redemption Value (CRV) on the bottles and cans of drinks and sodas in my neighborhood. Even though most people throw these away, they are essentially throwing money a way.
My fiancé and I went to recycle our plastic and glass bottles that we have saved for the last few months today. It was a very fun experience because:
- We finally got rid of the bottles that were sitting in our kitchen.
- I got to see how the whole process works and tell you about it
- Get some of our hard earned money back.
When we got there, it had two of these automated machines shown on the left. A closer examination and you can see that the top (the white part) shows how much you get for each bottle (5 cents for each bottle under 24 oz and 10 cents for ones that are over 24 oz). There is a circular
shaped hole where you put in the bottles, and a cash dispenser type of unit that dispenses the cash coupon. This machine is pretty cool since it auto calculates how big your bottles are and increases the value of your coupon automatically.
After we are done, the unit dispensed a coupon that can be redeemed for cash. Since the one we went to is close to Food 4 Less (a grocery store in Southern California), the coupon can be redeemed for money inside the store. As an alternative, you can use the coupon to buy food in the grocery store.
After seeing this in action, I will definitely try to save the bottles and cans of everything I drink from now on. This is definitely a very interesting and fun experience. Save your bottles and try to find one close to your home today!
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{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice illustrations! Let me check if we have something down here in MD.
You should. I mean, $6.20 might not sound like much, but I’m sure other people have many more bottles than the two of us does.
Also, never throw away free money! (that’s the first thing I was told in University)
Interesting day out. Australia has a similar system being set up right now where they will gauge by people registering online at their website where to place the envirobank units (location wise)
tdinoz: That’s great to hear that other places around the world has (or will have) these type of machines! I think it’s a great idea and I’d love to see pictures of machines from other places. If you can, send them to me so i can post them for others to see.
Dubai news: It must’ve been fun to get $1.25! Back in 1974, weren’t you able to get like one month’s worth of candies with $1.25? I heard one bottle of coke was like $0.05 wasn’t it?
amazing machine. I remember it must have been 1974-75 when living in vermont an they just got deposits on cans.
I collected like $1.25 from the site of the road and purchased candy. Things have changed but it looks like the rates did not go up much in 20+years
In my ongoing efforts to generate some extra income, this will definitely be something I’ll be trying. We don’t get cash back for glass bottles (too bad!) but I can take aluminum cans to an automated recycling place that will pay me for them. It’s time to really do this!
Ann: Good for you! Everything definitely counts and plus you won’t feel like you are throwing money away! Good luck with your cans!
On the negative side, there are not deposits/refunds here in Pennsylvania. Can’t drop off your cans and bottles for money as far as I know. But on the plus side, most (if not all) of the trash pickup services will pickup recyclables separately. So most people DO recycle – we just can’t get cash for it.
Which is a shame, because I am a stickler for recycling everything that can be. I’d probably make some nice money on it!
Dan: That’s too bad! However, you should look at your bottles since you might not be paying for it up front either, unlike California.
Hello,
We used to do in Quebec,Canada,when we were kids. Looking around and finding bottles and reselling them to the store.
My brother and I collected quite a few dollars then.
Marie
Hello Money Ning,
Just wrote a small piece on my blog about your site.
Marie
Hi,
I also like the way you pictured your article. Very interesting.
Marie
marie: Thanks for the comments!!!
For us it’s quite fun (as I’m sure it was when you and your brother were kids) and it also helps the environment!
Hi! I just started doing this too. Now I see cans and bottles as nickels and dimes. I even bring home the cans I get from work since drinks are free there. It feels silly sometimes, but it is fun.
baglady: Good for you for starting to do this! You will start to notice that everybody leaves all their bottles everywhere soon
Is this something new in CA? I’ve been taking cans and bottles back for $0.05-$0.10 for 25 years here in Iowa . . .