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Easiest ways to make money recycling
There are many things you can recycle for money. If you’re looking to get paid to recycle, check out these simple ideas.
Recycling bottles, electronics or plastic is mainly a conscious effort to reduce your carbon foot print, but it can also put extra cash in your pockets.
You don’t always have to walk into a recycling center near you to recycle old batteries, computers or metals.
Recycling for money is an online side hustle for many.
There are many recycling places online that will pay cash for your items, sometimes as soon as you mail them in.
At the start of the recycling trend, you could pretty much only recycle cans, bottles and plastic.
However, with the expansion of the economy there is so much more that is reusable.
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What items can you recycle for money?
You can reclaim many items used in everyday life and others from industry and commercial settings.
Items like jewelry and personal electronics can be sold online as well as offline. For more basic items, you will need a recycling center near you.
These are some of the items for recycling for money.
- Recycling scrap metals
- Recycle plastic
- Recycle bottles
- Electronics
- Can recycling
- Battery recycle, Tesla Batteries
- Computers
- Tires
- Ink cartridges
- Jewelry – gold and silver, diamonds, engagement and wedding rings
7 Best Ways to Get Paid Recycling
Recycle Old Electronics for Cash
Electronics recycling is one of the most popular ways to make extra money recycling.
The large expansion in technology prompts many to change their computers, mobile phones and tablets often.
While you upgrade an electronic gadget, you can also make money from your old one.
So, laptops, phones, tablets and other mobile devices can be recycled for cash.
Where to get paid recycling your old personal electronic devices?
Gazelle can buy your old personal electronics from you. This company buys old personal electronic items for cash.
Some of the electronic items you can try to sell on the site include; iPhones, Blackberry devices, Samsung phones, tablets.
There is no guarantee that you’ll get an offer from the site, however the process is pretty transparent.
The process is simple. You let the company know about your item. You’ll get a quote.
If you decide to take the offer Gazelle sends you a trackable package to send your item in. Once the item is inspected and approved, you get paid.
Amazon Trade in, LetGo, YouRenew – These are also options for recycling your old electronics for money.
Make Money Recycling Basic Metals
Precious metals like gold and silver can be sold online and offline for cash. The local dealer and online buyers and sellers of gold will pay for old gold and silver pieces.
Precious metals are not the only metals you can recycle for cash. Other metals used in commercial settings are also recyclable and highly sought after.
Cooper, brass, aluminum, bronze and steel are basic metals you can recycle to make money.
Where to get paid recycling gold and other basic metals?
Gold jewelry can be sold at pawn shops, local jewelers and online exchanges. However, to recycle more basic metals and scraps you need to find local yards and traders who will buy them.
You can sell your gold jewelry, watches, wedding rings, engagement rings and other items on Express Gold Cash. The process is published on the website.
- You start by requesting an Express Gold Cash Pack by completing a form.
- Ship your gold on the envelope (prepaid) and ship overnight using Fedex.
- Express Gold Cash will make an offer. If you accept the terms, you can get paid by Paypal, Direct Deposit or check.
Other gold online exchanges that pay for recycling gold are Cash for Gold USA and Liberty Gold and Silver.
Recycle Old Batteries
Recycling batteries has been a trend and it’s still very popular. You can recycle batteries for money online and offline.
For car batteries make sure to review your State’s regulations for handling. Also, check the market resell values of car batteries.
These are some of the batteries you can recycle for cash.
- Lead-acid Batteries non-automotive
- Lithium-ion Batteries
- Nickel-cadmium Batteries
- Tesla Battery
- Car Batteries
- Portable batteries
Where to get paid for recycling batteries?
Batteries can be recycled and you can get paid for old ones at several places online and off-line.
If you have collected some batteries around the house, your business or from your car, here are some places to sell them.
- Auto Parts Shops – Not all of these shop pay for old batteries, but Auto Zone has a program that will pay you $10 per battery recycled.
- Junk Yards – Check your local area for junk yards buying old batteries.
- Ebay – There are many selling old batteries on eBay, including the popular Tesla battery. You can put your more valuable batteries on eBay for sell.
- iScrap App – This App allows you to find scrap yards paying for old batteries, metals and other recyclable items.
Recycle Old Books, Text Books, Old CDs and DVDs
It’s hard to find local used bookstores and places to sell CDs and DVDs. However, there are online platforms to recycle these used items for cash or for a credit.
This is where to get paid for recycling Books, CDs and DVDs.
If you have the bar code for these used items, a place like Decluttr offers an exchange service.
For used books you can get a credit or cash at sites like PaperBackSwap, Amazon trade in, BookScouter and Bookmooch.
Make Money Recycling Old Clothes
Many thrift shops welcome donations of used clothing. But, you can also recycle your gently worn clothes by selling them to these same thrift and consignment stores.
A piece of clothing that is very popular to resell is the wedding dress. Preowned wedding gowns can fetch you a nice chunk of change.
Online thrift stores like ThreadUp, Poshmark and Swap will pay you cash or issue a store credit for future purchases.
Resources for saving money reclaiming and thrifting
- 7 Best online thrift stores for home decorations
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Recycle Aluminum Cans
There are cans recycling centers all over the country. You can recycle aluminum beverage cans and aluminum food cans for money.
Most of these recycling centers also accept plastic bottles and plastic jugs.
Find a reclining center near you and call up for collection times and payment policy.
Recycling Ink Cartridges
Office supply stores like Staples operate reward programs for used ink cartridges.
Also, websites like Evolve Recycling and NeedEmpty take your ink cartridges for cash.
eBay – -if you know eBay well, you can put up empty ink cartridges for sale there.
Recycle Old Magazines
Old magazines in topics like Celebrities, Entertainment, Sports, Automobiles and Fashion can be sold on an eBay store.
If you do a search for “old magazines eBay”, you’ll find sellers offering old magazines dated back to decades ago.
If you have or open a seller’s account on the platform, you can auction old magazines for profits.
Final Thoughts
Can you make money recycling
These are some of the ways you can make money by recycling used items.
Some of these are used daily at home or in the office and their individual resell values may not be large.
For those items, it makes sense to accumulate a few of them before recycling for money.
For items with higher values like, metals, gold and car batteries, you may want to do some homework before recycling them for money.
Compare prices from different sources before turning your items in.
7+ Ways to Make Extra Money Recycling
- Electronics
- Basic Metals
- Batteries
- Old Books, CDs, DVDs
- Clothing
- Aluminum Cans
- Ink Cartridges
- Old Magazines
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