This has been my take on it too, and I’ve gotten paid back in a number of ways by the poor people pushing the carts. (Actually, they are not all poor. Some are quite well off and just frugal, bored, or want to do something to make a contribution in their older age.)
In exchange for my regular recycling, they will in a pinch take my garbage for me when I’m too busy, or take my random glass bottles (which noone seems to actually recycle, except for rice wine bottles and Taiwan beer bottles – which you can return at the store) and throw them out for me so I don’t have to bother. If I need boxes for whatever reason, I can also barter for those, or get them for free on the strength of my past trade. One of the “poor” recyclers even asked me once whether I happened to need to change any US currency. (Despite his tatty clothes it turns out he has two daughters in college in the US.)
Had a classmate who rubbed his hands in gleeful anticipation while collecting a big pile of recyclables. Imagine his dissapointment when the riches failed to materialize. He realized it is a lot of work for not such a big/quick/easy buck.
Leave it to the elderly/needy who have the patience to collect, clean, classify and transport.
The ones that make the money are the in-between stations (volume) and the recycling factories, some store it for years and wait for the best price, it’s a gamble.
Just so you know, there was a time not so long ago here (10 years+/-) where you could pay for your breakfast with the bottles you found on the street each day. Each PET bottle had two to three dollar deposit built into the cost of your bottled drink. Many people still could not be bothered to take their bottle back to the convenience store.
When people in Taiwan started to care about the environment, they decided that there was no longer any need to continue with the deposit program. Funny, I didn’t remember the cost of a bottle of drinking water going down though. Anyway, recycling prices were still O.K. for a while.
Recently, the prices went way down and it is not worth the trouble.
The poster is correct that money is to be made in volume. I give my regular recyclables to the neighborhood lady, but I give my heavy metals to a computer shop owner because he gives me parts at cost and service for free. He get maybe four times I would be able to get due to volume.
I took a few CDs to my 7-Eleven for recycling the other day and the worker told me to come back when I’ve 500g of them, then I’d get NT$5 (or NT$5 credit for a purchase in the store). She showed me an A4-sized card with bar codes they swipe for various kinds and quantities of recyclables. I’ve not looked into this anymore because I don’t think it’s worth my while, and I’d rather give/donate my recyclables to people making less than me.
I do take batteries and CDs to 7-Eleven because they seem so hard to recycle otherwise.
One of our neighbors collects recycles. One time, my son and I watched when a medium-sized truck came to weigh, pay and take away all the plastic bottles, cans, paper etc. The truck was totally filled and she got slightly more than NT$1500 for it all. Not much money at all…
Take your batteries to Family Mart. They will weigh them and give you a food prize. I usually earn a small yogurt for the child that accompanies me. Beats throwing away batteries in the trash.
I’ve always wondered what should happen to CDs; at least battery recycling bins have become much more common in recent years.
How do you destroy your CDs? I’ve got books full of backups that could go, but they probably contain personal data.
I’ve heard legends of hole-punchy type things that cut a long slit out of the CD, but I’ve never seen one; breaking them sounds like a recipe for shattered plastic that the cats could eat or cut themselves on; gouging them (CDs, not the cats) with a knife would take way too long; and microwaving sounds entertaining but ultimately a bit too Beavis-and-Buttheadish. (To throw in one of the 90s references that keep going around in my head today.)
I’ve always wondered what should happen to CDs; at least battery recycling bins have become much more common in recent years.
How do you destroy your CDs? I’ve got books full of backups that could go, but they probably contain personal data.
I’ve heard legends of hole-punchy type things that cut a long slit out of the CD, but I’ve never seen one; breaking them sounds like a recipe for shattered plastic that the cats could eat or cut themselves on; gouging them (CDs, not the cats) with a knife would take way too long; and microwaving sounds entertaining but ultimately a bit too Beavis-and-Buttheadish. (To throw in one of the 90s references that keep going around in my head today.)[/quote]
CD’s? No problem, they recycle them … there is even a Taiwanese invention to split off the layers and recycle them completely …
Is this still a thing? If not, i have a recycling area in my apartment - basically just bung your recyclables on the floor next to the bins. I’m thinking i could bung my batteries there? I just noticed i have a bag of them in my flat.
I’m not sure whether they bother actually recycling alkaline/zinc carbon batteries here (it’s not that economical, and since mercury was phased out their environmental impact is regarded as relatively low), but the trash/recycling guys do accept them. I usually just hand them over in a bag once or twice a year when I remember.
Some communities have a special bin / paper box for batteries. If not, might be the easiest to bring them to the closest FamilyMart / 711. I think they all take them for fee.
It is. But you really need mountains of recyclables to make any money. A computer (for example) gets you about 100nt, a microwave, probably about 200. I believe the going rate is about 10nt per kg for any ferrous metal, and about 25 or so for aluminum alloys, and copper gets you more. I turned in a 2 ton AC condenser and got almost 2000nt back (they contain a lot of copper).
It really isn’t worth it if you make normal money though, let the elderly do it. It really only makes more money if you’re recycling construction waste or machine tools. I mean you might make some money if you spent your entire day outside collecting tin cans and stuff, but it’s much better going in with a blue truck full of it than pushing a cart.
I sometimes take my trash there, like used weld practice metal, just so I get paid to give it to them, instead of having to pay to get rid of them.