Aluminum cans - how clean at the yard?

Originally Posted by Newscapper

I have never taken cans to a yard before because I’ve always been served by municipal recycling.

Recently I have collected quite a few cans probably a few hundred lb worth and I’d like to take to the yard. Most of these cans were taken from the road and I made sure the interiors were free of debris snails, cigarettes , snuff etc. however some still have a dirty sheen on them - any clumps or noticeable solid dirt is washed off but there is residual dirt mostly on the outside of the cans. It’s hard to remove this dirt even when washing with sprayer to the jet setting , it just doesn’t want to come off.

Will I catch flak from a yard for this ? Will they still accept it or try to knock off from the price.?


Edit: yes it is dirt not just can being faded from the sun or rust , I can get it off if I scrub it but it’s too time consuming with each can to make it worth it

I would just bring it as is. I've never seen anyone hassled over stuff like that. be prepared to be very underwhelmed by how much you get though lol.... I remember I saved my cans for months, had a whole truck bed filled with bags of cans and got like $9 lol. Its like $0.20-0.40/lb.... so even if you do got 100lbs thats still only like $20-$40. I never found it to be worth it, but just take them and see what they say.

Or just call and ask how they would like them. Some yards wont take them bagged, some yard only take them unbagged for some reason, some take them crushed, other preffer them not crush. best bet is to just call and ask them and try to do what they prefer.

Originally Posted by kss

I would just bring it as is. I've never seen anyone hassled over stuff like that. be prepared to be very underwhelmed by how much you get though lol.... I remember I saved my cans for months, had a whole truck bed filled with bags of cans and got like $9 lol. Its like $0.20-0.40/lb.... so even if you do got 100lbs thats still only like $20-$40. I never found it to be worth it, but just take them and see what they say.

Or just call and ask how they would like them. Some yards wont take them bagged, some yard only take them unbagged for some reason, some take them crushed, other preffer them not crush. best bet is to just call and ask them and try to do what they prefer.

thanks for the reply. I am mainly doing this to clean up the community so I’m not really worried about the money.

I am concerned about the crushing as well. I have crushed all mine to save space. Luckily there are multiple recyclers in this area so I think I can get one to take them.

Yeah, kss is right. Cans are thought to be a big $$$ item, but when you get right down to it, you are selling mostly air. I have not found the yard I go to be very picky, but rest assured, if they catch you filling cans with sand, you will be persona non grata.