An empty container with a volume equal to or greater than 8 oz and less than 24 oz will have a refund value of 10 cents. An empty container with a volume equal to or greater than 24 oz and less than one gallon (or 3.8 L) will have a refund value of 20 cents. You can be paid to recycle aluminum cans, since NJ doesn’t charge a deposit at the point of purchase. I used to do it before I stopped drinking soda, partly because there was a junkyard less than a mile from me.

Back then I would get between 30 and 45 cents a pound; today it’s between 50 and 70 cents. A can weighs approximately half an ounce, so you would need 30 to 35 cans per pound, making each can worth between 1.5 cents and 2 cents. I was going to the yard when I had about 10 pounds of cans. You can shred cans to save space while you store them.

Keep in mind that we are talking about money to change out of pocket, not money to get rich. While all states with bottle bills currently maintain overall search recycling rates of between 70% and 95% for redeemable bottles and cans (significantly higher than states without bottle bills), those states with higher deposit amounts tend to have higher overall search recycling rates. Even so, the law, including the State of New Jersey’s Mandatory Source Separation and Recycling Act, gives each of Garden State’s 21 counties the autonomy to develop its own recycling plan in accordance with the numerous provisions of the law. Some counties, for example, collect recyclable materials in a double-stream form, while others collect recyclable materials in a single stream.

Manufacturers, for example, are making thinner and lighter plastic bottles, reducing the consumption of recyclable material right from the start. We reviewed beverage container storage laws in the 10 states that have such statutes and reviewed both public and private search recycling programs in each state. Northern New Jersey residents who can accumulate large volumes of cans and bottles can find aluminum can search recycling centers in that state just an hour away. SWRT revenues were used to fund recycling efforts with county and municipality grants, research grants, and business loans.

A year later, China banned the import of 24 more materials, including post-consumer plastic and mixed paper, according to the National Waste and Recycling Association. China’s change has forced users of the single-stream recycling system, including some municipalities, to rethink tactics. Counties generally choose to recycle aluminum cans, glass bottles, and newspapers, using curbside pickup as a collection method. As an economic advantage, search recycling bottles and cans means less mining and fewer imports from abroad, while, from an ecological point of view, it saves energy and mitigates pollution.

Those with the lowest search recycling rate were Fairview (7%), Hackensack (15%), North Arlington (15%), Wood-Ridge (16%) and Palisades Park (19%). A DEP social media campaign called Recycle Right NJ offers a number of ways to prevent recycled materials from becoming contaminated, and its RecycleCoach app provides free access to municipal recycling program information. A “market-first” strategy kept recycling of certain items contingent on the markets available for the resulting recycled material.