How many plastic bottles do you need to make $1000?

On a recent Wednesday evening, the blue-tinted plastic-bags loaded with empty cans and drained bottles look like a bunch of garbage to passers-by on the corner of Riverside Drive and West 89th Street. But to a group of family members from Queens, headed up by Jeanett Pilatacsi, they symbolize a livelihood.

Each bag is filled with about 200 discarded beverage containers — valued at five cents apiece when redeemed at an Elmsford, NY recycling center. Bit-by-bit, all of that aluminum and plastic provides an income for the Pilatacsi clan.

On the most profitable days, ambitious canners can accumulate 100 blue bags of returnables, which adds up to $1,000 in profits.

The Pilatacsis are not alone. According to Ryan Castalia, executive director of the non-profit Sure We Can redemption center, an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 New Yorkers make money by collecting cans, bottles and plastic containers, and returning them to outlets for refunds. Of those, some 100 earn livelihoods through canning. Last month, it was reported that millionaire landlord Lisa Fiekowsky is known for collecting cans and bottles in her Brooklyn neighborhood and redeeming them.

Ray del Carmen, who lives in Brooklyn and now works as a manager at Sure We Can, said the savviest can-collectors know that some days are more profitable than others. Though his full-time canning days are behind him — he still helps out his girlfriend who collects cans for a living — he remembers one holiday most fondly.

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Jeanett Pilatacsi (in yellow apron) with members of her family, who collect up to 100 bags of cans a day — a haul worth $1,000.

William C. Lopez/NY Post

“St. Patrick’s Day was the best day,” Del Carmen told The Post. “Everyone starts drinking early. So, from 2 p.m. until 4 a.m., going from bar to bar, between 42nd Street and 45th Street, I made $800, working alone, in one day. They threw away empty bottles and cans, and I took them.”

Another hot hotspot is Flash Dancers. He remembers capitalizing on the jiggle-joint’s policy of pushing customers to purchase drinks. “In four or five hours, I could get 2,400 bottles” — which would generate $120.

Here are three stories of can collectors, all immigrants who arrived on US shores with no money and limited skills. Finding gold in other people’s refuse, they have turned themselves into shoestring entrepreneurs and discovered their American dreams.

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Pilatacsi (in pink) said she and her family of 12 own a house in Rego Park, Queens, and their revenues pay all their bills.

Luis E. Velez for NY Post

Family Affair

While wealthy New Yorkers look askance at can collectors lugging recyclables through ritzy neighborhoods, Jeanett Pilatacsi, 38, says it is an occupation that brings self-respect and good pay.

“This is better than my old job, working in a candle factory,” she told The Post. “It was too many hours for too little money. Now, my family and I, we work together, from noon until 8pm, collecting cans until we fill up our truck.”

The bags are transported in a white 2021 Mercedes Benz Sprinter van, purchased with credit. Sometimes the vehicle and the family members work overtime: “We’ll go out from 1 a.m. until 2 a.m. and collect bottles and cans from bars before they close.”

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After Pilatacsi and her family bought this 2021 Mercedes Benz Sprinter van two years ago, she said, they were able to turn their can collecting pursuit into a proper business.

Luis E. Velez for NY Post

Their payoff tonight will come in cash, more than $600 for a long day of work, when a truck pulls up from the Elmsford-based recycling company Galvanize Group to take the goods.

Smaller, additional bags hold glass, but, Pilatacsi said, “Bottles are the hardest part. They are so heavy.” They also pay the same five cents per receptacle as aluminum and plastic — a sum that has stubbornly stuck in place since 1983, when five cents then was worth 15 cents now.

Though Pilatacsi and her family of a dozen are satisfied to be making bank this way, the business began out of necessity.

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Pilatacsi said collecting cans came out of necessity after her father lost his construction job.

Luis E. Velez for NY Post

“Fifteen years ago, my father lost his job in construction,” she said. “It was scary. We did not know how we would pay the rent. He went out with a shopping cart and started gathering cans. Now he is retired and we took over.”

At the beginning, she added, he would accumulate 30 boxes of returnables per week. Now, on their best days, the family members collect as many as 100 bags, which would be good for $1,000.

Their decision to treat can collecting as a business made it all possible, she said. They learned the value of forging relationships with doormen and porters, in order to obtain their discarded treasures, and to ignore the haters. “Sometimes people will say to me that we’re digging in garbage,” she explained with an eye roll. “But we don’t care. We know what we’re doing.”

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She said a key element to successful can collecting is forging relationships with buildings’ doormen and porters.

Luis E. Velez for NY Post

All 12 collection crew members are related and live together in a Rego Park house that they own. Pilatacsi said their profits from canning pay all their bills. When they’re not working, they eat meals communally, help to raise one another’s children and share in the thousands that can be earned each week.

After a day of canning in Manhattan, where they tend to forage from 99th to 86th Streets, Pilatacsi likes to unwind with a shower, family dinner and telenovela before going to bed, waking up the next morning and starting all over again.

The kids help collect cans every now and then when they’re not in school. Pilatacsi’s nephew Nelson, 11, plans to attend college and recently pitched in during the waning days of summer vacation. On weekends, he said, “We all take it easy and go to the park together.”

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Former construction worker Mario Palonci, 70, said he makes up for financial shortfalls by collecting 2,000 cans a night when he can muster up the energy.

Luis E. Velez for NY Post

Retirement Plan

For Mario Palonci, a 70-year-old immigrant from the Czech Republic, canning has served as a lifeline.

A reformed alcoholic — “I drank 20 or 30 cans of beer per day,” he told The Post. “Beer, beer, beer…” — who had been living on the street after his construction jobs dried up, he now resides in a Brooklyn shelter and makes up for financial shortfalls by collecting 2,000 cans per night when he musters the energy to do it.

“Most people who work all night, they go home,” Palonci told The Post. “I spend the morning sorting through my cans, organizing them, putting them in the proper bags. It’s hard work, but it is the best work for me.”

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Palonci came to New York from the Czech Republic.

Luis E. Velez for NY Post

Besides providing money, he said it earns him respect. “I work on Bedford Street,” said Palonci, who said he suffers from type 2 diabetes and transports his redeemable goods in a cart. “The bar owners know me and know that there will be no disorder from me. I am a professional.”

Meals are offered to him at the shelter but money from canning provides Palonci with other essentials. Besides additional food, transportation and clothing, he said, “I must have cigarettes and Internet. I need to read the news from home.”

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Josefa Marin said she helped put her daughter through college via can collecting. Now, she and her boyfriend, Pedro Romero, are a team, foraging for cans nightly.

Luis E. Velez for NY Post

Dual Income

For Josefa Marin, an immigrant from Mexico, the collecting of cans means nothing less than a better future for her child. During the early 2000s, her daughter was commuting from home to Briarcliffe College on Long Island, and Marin struggled to get by with a succession of low-paying jobs. One was in a clothing factory, another in a restaurant. After losing the restaurant gig and unable to find another, she turned to can collecting to pay for her daughter’s books, meals and commuting expenses.

Talking to others who collected cans, 53-year-old Marin picked up tips and discovered something amazing about a line of labor that seemed like a last resort.

“I’m my own boss and can work hard to be successful. I walked through Bushwick and Greenpoint, going into bars and restaurants, asking for their cans and bottles. At the beginning I was making $20 or $30 a day. Then it got to $90.”

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Collecting cans allows Marin to be her own boss.

Luis E. Velez for NY Post

These days, Marin benefits from her established connections with building workers who appreciate her coming by and taking bags of recyclable refuse off their hands.

“It’s all about relationships,” she said. “You show your work ethic and come with respect. You don’t make a mess and leave everything better than it was before you got there.”

In 2011, she had a chance meeting with a man called Pedro Romero, who was from her hometown of Puebla. He, too, was struggling to get by in NYC. They recognized one another, fell in love and combined forces to profitably can together. They now live together in a Williamsburg walk-up and work night and day, sleeping when they can (often in their car, which gets used for transport).

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Marin and Romero can pull in up to 5,000 cans a day.

Luis E. Velez for NY Post

As a team, she said they pull in 5,000 cans a day. Because they do their own sorting and separating at the non-profit Sure We Can, they can yield 6.5 cents per can.

When the couple considers their future, they have the same dream as many people nearing their golden years.

“Eventually, we want to take it easy” said Romero. “We are saving money and looking forward to returning home to our country. We’d like to retire together in Mexico.”

If you want to know how to make money recycling plastic, then this is the post for you.

Whether you are concerned about the environmental impact of plastics on our planet or just want to make money recycling plastic bottles and containers, it is quit concerning that about 85% of plastic waste ended up in landfills in 2021.

Thankfully more people are becoming aware of plastic waste and are trying to recycle more. And if you need one more reason for recycling plastic, other than helping the environment, recycling plastic can be a nice side hustle.

Not only recycling plastic can be profitable, but it’s also one of the more altruistic money-making options since you’re helping the environment!

There are quite a few different types of plastic you can recycle, such as:

Short answer: If you live in a state that has bottle deposit laws, you can earn money when you recycle plastic bottles. Those who don’t live in states with bottle deposit laws can offer to collect empties from local bars and restaurants for a fee and take them to a recycling center. You can also make money recycling other items, such as aluminum cans.

For more details on how to make money recycling plastic, make sure you read the rest of the post!

How to Make Money Recycling Plastic

Like I said above if you live in a state that has bottle deposit laws you can earn money for recycling plastic.

Here’s how…

Step One: Check to see if your state as a bottle bill

The first step is to check to see if your state has a bottle bill. Currently, 10 states have a bottle bill. If you happen to live in one of these states, you’ll be able to cash in your plastic bottles and other containers.

Recycling plastic in states that have bottle bills can be incredibly profitable. In fact, eight people were arrested trying to smuggle empty beverage containers from Arizona and Nevada to get bottle redemption money in California.

In California, the bottles and cans would have earned them $82,000! Of course, taking bottles you purchased in one state into another one with bottle bills is not legal. Hence those guys getting arrested! Another guy, who was a Kentucky resident, was arrested for trying to smuggle cans into Michigan.

If you don’t live in a state with bottle deposit laws, you will need to try the options in the, “How to make money recycling plastic when you don’t live in a bottle bill state” section.

As for those in bottle bill states, depending on the state you live in, you could earn between 5 cents and 10 cents per plastic item. You can recycle things like plastic mineral water bottles, soda water bottles, plastic cartons, and carbonated soft drink bottles.

Here are the states with bottle deposit laws, and how much you can earn.

California

In California, you can get 5¢ for containers that are less than 24 oz. and 10¢ for containers that are 24 oz. or greater. California residents can earn money for any container that is made from plastic, and also for those made from glass or bi-metal.

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Connecticut

In Connecticut, you can get paid for any can, bottle, jar or carton that’s made from plastic, glass, or metal. HDPE containers are excluded. You can earn 5¢ per container.

Hawaii

Hawaii will pay you cash for any container up to 68 oz. that’s composed of plastic, aluminum, bi-metal, or glass. You can earn 5¢ per container.

Iowa

Iowa will pay you cash when you return any can, bottle, jar, or carton that’s made from plastic, glass, or metal. You can get 5¢ for containers.

Maine

In Maine, you can earn money for any container that’s four liters or less, and made from plastic, glass, or metal. You can earn 15¢ for wine and liquor and 5¢ for all other containers.

Massachusetts

In Massachusetts, you can get 5¢ for any can, bottle, jar, or carton composed of plastic, glass, metal, or a combination. Excludes biodegradables.

Michigan

Michigan will give you a redemption reward for any container that is less than one gallon, and made of plastic, metal, paper, or glass. You can earn 10¢ for beverage containers.

New York

In New York, you can get paid 5¢ for any bottle, can, or jar that’s less than one gallon and made from plastic, steel, glass, metal, or aluminum.

Oregon

Oregon pays you 10¢ for beverage containers. Any bottle, can, or jar that’s composed of plastic, metal, or glass is accepted.

Vermont

In Vermont, you can get paid for any can, jar, or carton that’s made from plastic, glass, metal, paper, or a combination.  You can get 15¢ for liquor and 5¢ for all other containers.

Step Two: Gather plastic to recycle

If you live in a bottle bill state, then it’s time to start gathering plastic to recycle.

Here’s where you can get it:

Your own home

The most obvious place to look for plastic to recycle is your own home. This is a good starting point. You can make a little extra cash from any plastic containers, such as cartons and bottles, that you have in the house.

This is great because it allows you to make money from something that you would otherwise just throw out.

Your own home is a good starting point, but if you really want to maximize your earnings, you’ll want to get your hands on as much plastic as you can. This means looking out for it outside of the home as well.

Friends and family

Another good option is to simply ask family and friends if they have any plastic bottles that they would be willing to give to you. Many people are happy to have someone take away their unwanted plastic for them. You save them the hassle of doing it themselves and you get paid in the process.

Neighbors

You could also ask your neighbors if they have any plastic that you could recycle for them. You likely have neighbors who don’t recycle their plastic, and they would be happy to give these unwanted recyclables to you.

Don’t just go rooting through your neighbors’ trash cans though. Not only is it poor etiquette, but it’s illegal in many states as well. So, get your neighbor’s permission first!

Bars and restaurants

You could get some extra plastic bottles and other containers from local bars and restaurants. Just call and ask if you can have their recyclables. Then, you have more plastic containers you can redeem for cash.

Workplace

You could also ask your management if they would mind you collecting any discarded plastic. Many places will be happy to oblige since you are helping them to recycle!

If management agrees, then you could set up a separate bin in the break room with a note that says, “plastic recyclables only.”

It’s important you stay on top of your plastic collection. After all, it’s important to keep your workplace neat and management happy! So, don’t let the plastic pile up!

Make sure that you check the bin daily either during lunch or after work each day.

Outdoor spaces

Sadly, people litter! So, you will often find plastic containers just scattered on the floor in outdoor areas. While it is sad, you can help out your neighborhood and make money by picking up this litter.

If you’re looking for extra plastic bottles, cartons, and other containers, then make sure you check the following areas:

• Sidewalk
• Parks
• Roadside
• Parking lot
• Under bushes
• The beach

There’s usually even more litter around after events like concerts, festivals, street fairs, and marathons and other sports events.

Step Three: Take the plastic to a place that pays you

Now that you have the plastic, it’s time to get paid for it.

You might be wondering, “Where can I recycle plastic for cash near me?”

Well, you have quite a few options….

Bottle and can redemption centers

In states that have bottle deposit laws, you can return plastic containers, and other recyclables, for cash at redemption centers.

To find redemption centers near you, open up Google and enter the phrase, “bottle redemption near me.” You’ll get a list of nearby centers where you can get cash for bottles, cans, and other containers.

Grocery stores

Many grocery stores and supermarkets in states that have bottle deposit laws have machines for plastic bottles and other recyclables.

You can use these machines to get cash for plastic. Typically, you’ll find these machines behind the store or in the store’s parking lot.

After you have loaded all of your plastic into the machine, most stores will give you a slip of paper, which you can redeem with a cashier.

Call local stores to see whether they have a machine for recycling plastic bottles.

Since many of us visit the grocery store anyway, this is a pretty convenient option if you’re looking to make money recycling.

Gas stations and convenience stores

Many gas stations and convenience stores in bottle bill states allow you to return bottles and other recyclables like cans for money.

Simply call local gas stations/convenience stores in your area, and ask if they offer bottle redemption.

How to Make Money Recycling Plastic in a Non Bottle Bill State

What if you don’t live in a state with bottle bill laws?

After all, there are only 10 states that actually do bottle redemption. That leaves 40 states that don’t have a bottle bill.

Unless your state has a bottle bill, places like recycling centers are not going to pay you for plastic bottles, cartons, and other plastic containers.

While some states without deposit laws do have curbside recycling programs and recycling centers where you can drop off any empty, clean plastic bottles and other recyclables, these don’t pay you. So, if you’re looking to make money recycling plastic, then that’s not ideal.

Companies like TerraCycle encourage you to recycle by giving you points for qualifying waste. However, you redeem these points for a donation to charity, rather than cash. So, that’s not a viable option.

Does that mean that if you don’t live in one of the 10 bottle bill states that you are left without any way to make money recycling?

Thankfully, no!

There are still some options you can try.

Haul away recycling for local business

With this option, you are basically the middleman. A local business pays you to haul away their plastic. You take said plastic to the recycling center where they dispose of it.

Basically, get in touch with local businesses that are likely to have a lot of plastic waste. This could include bars and restaurants, for example. Then, give them a call and ask them if they would be willing to pay you for hauling away their plastic for them.

Some places will be willing to partner with you, especially if you offer the owner convenient times for pickup and a competitive rate. You could put a post on Craigslist as well asking if any local bars or restaurants need someone to collect empties.

The business owner gets rid of their unwanted waste, and you get paid. So, it’s a win-win.

You could consider starting a recycling business, rather than simply hauling it away and taking it to a third-party recycling center. But honestly, it’s a huge amount of work. It’s not as simple as it sounds. You’ll need to acquire premises and vehicles for your business.

This could be storage and sorting facilities or a small lock-up for smaller-scale recycling.

You also need to apply for all the correct permits and licenses that may be needed for you to operate a recycling business in your area, and that’s just to start the business. Running a recycling business takes a lot of effort too since you have to sort through items, and as you will likely have employees, you’ll have to organize and manage them too.

Also, running a recycling business can be costly. Equipment can cost $1,000s. If you want to start a big project like that, great, but it comes with a whole lot of time, effort, and upfront investment on your part.

Recycle aluminum instead

If hauling away plastic for businesses isn’t for you and you simply want to turn recyclables into cash, recycling aluminum cans is a fantastic alternative.

Even if you don’t live in a state with bottle deposit laws, you can still get cash for aluminum cans. You won’t get paid per can as you would in bottle bill states. Instead, you will get paid for cans based on their weight.

Currently, the price for aluminum cans is $0.34 per pound.

The market value for aluminum changes all the time. So, I would recommend you use iScrap App to check current price for aluminum cans.

How Much Can You Make Recycling Plastic?

If you live in a bottle bill state, you can earn from $0.05 to $0.10 per container.

This means that if you have 50 plastic containers to recycle, you’d earn $2.50 in a state that pays 5 cents per container and $5 in a state that pays 10 cents per container.

In an interview with KQED, a man named Darwin Laren who’s been trading in recyclables for cash for more than 20 years, says that he earns around $150 to $160 Monday through Friday. As I suggested above, Laren collects cans from lots of places. In fact, each day he visits about 10 different bars and restaurants around the city to collect bottles and cans.

Obviously, the more cans you have the more money you can make!

If you are hauling away people’s recyclables, you’ll be able to set your own rates. Your income will depend on how many clients you have, and how many times you collect their recyclables.

Closing Thoughts

If you want to know how to make money recycling plastic, make sure you follow out guide above.

It’s pretty easy to make money recycling plastic if you live in one of the ten states that has bottle redemption laws. Simply take your plastic containers to the places I mentioned above and trade them for cash. You can earn anywhere from 5 cents to 10 cents per plastic container. You can also get paid for recycling glass bottles, aluminum cans other recyclables.

You could also consider hauling away plastic and other recyclables for local bars and restaurants in exchange for payment. Finally, if you don’t live in a bottle bill state and don’t want to haul away recycling either, another option is to recycle aluminum cans instead.

If you want to make money recycling, there are lots of options!