Your kids want to earn money for an extracurricular activity, but you don't want them going door-to-door in the neighborhood. You also don't want to finance their activity. Luckily, there is a way that you can avoid both options. Take a quick look around your home. You probably have quite a few things that your kids could recycle for spare cash. Recycling is a great way for your kids to save money and learn about recycling – such as the various materials that can be recycled for cash. Take a look at a few of the items your kids could be recycling.
Aluminum Containers
Empty beverage cans aren't the only aluminum that can be recycled. There are probably a lot of aluminum products in your yard that you hadn't even thought of. For instance, old lawn furniture, bike frames, and even some old window screen frames can be recycled for their aluminum content.
Aluminum foil can also be recycled, as can aluminum bakeware that some frozen dinners are packaged in. You can even get friends and family involved in aluminum recycling. While your child is collecting recyclables, ask friends to donate to the cause. You can provide an empty trash can and pick it up whenever it's filled.
Discarded Copper
Copper is an excellent material to recycle and it's easier to find than you might think. The wiring inside battery cables is made of copper. You'll need to remove the protective coating from around the wiring, but once that's done you'll be able to recycle the wire. If you're going to be replacing your air conditioner soon, you can recycle the wiring from inside the condenser.
Steel
Old washing machines, dryers and refrigerators are an excellent source of recyclable steel. In fact, old refrigerators – those that are more than 10 years old – contain about 123 pounds of recyclable steel. Since you're recycling for the raw materials, your old appliances don't have to be in working condition. While you're helping your kids collect steel for recycling, don't forget about the cans you have in your pantry. Tin cans can also be recycled for cash.
Newspaper and Magazines
Did you know that things like magazines, newspapers and junk mail can be recycled for cash? If you're like most people, you probably throw away plenty of junk mail each week. Stop throwing it away and start saving if for your kids recycling project. While you're at it, take a trash can to work and set up a collection site for paper recyclables.
Your kids probably have numerous extracurricular activities that require cash each year. Help them set up a recycling project to finance those activities. Click here for more information.
