East London Recycling Walk

[greencanuck]

I did a recycling walk near my home a week ago and have been too busy to post detailed results.
The amount of time in total was about 2 1/2 hrs, in 20 minute increments at late afternoon, late night and the early morning.
I got no hassles at all.

The haul:
- 20 sets of 10 coupon booklets
- three coupons on boxes
- 8 icoke lids
- 10 sets of 4 juice coupons on Allen's juice cans
- 2 garbage bags full of pop cans ( partially crushed to 1 bag) = $4.45 at recyclers
- 3 beer cans ($0.30 at redemption centre)
- a few items for organizing at home

[Shwa Girl]

Wow, you got a lot. WTG.
What products are in your coupon books?

[greencanuck]

Wow, you got a lot. WTG.
What products are in your coupon books?

I got 20 Smart Savers as well a few other assorted fast food and local business coupon books.

It really speeds things up if you know what you are looking for, as more than 50% of the flyers were unopened.
You learn where to look in that stack and a couple of seconds later, another Smart Saver !
In my case it was March 22, Londoner, 3rd flyer in from the top (glossy).

I have already used some of the coupons.

[Sabina]

Nice, I will have to try but not where I live too many people here know me lol

[greencanuck]

A few bits of advice:
- just commit to try it for 20 min and decide if you want to do more
- bring a light of some kind
- keep things very neat and quiet
- bring a napsack to put the flyers/coupons/ boxes in
- tie back your hair
- dress appropriately for the weather
- bring a few shopping and trash bags in your coat pocket
- research what you may be looking for ahead of time so you can recognize it and be fast
- wear a coat that the cuffs can be easily washed
- pop cans create a lot more mess, noise and volume of stuff to be carried ( consider if it is worth carrying a noisy, syrupy, bulky mess)

[greencanuck]

Last night, I did the second week of the recycling walk.
I got:
- three coupons on boxes
- 12 icoke lids
- 1 Kelloggs cereal code
- 2 sets of 4 juice coupons on Allen's juice cans
- 2 1/2 garbage bags full of pop cans = about $6 at recyclers
- 2 beer cans ($0.20 at redemption centre)

This time I went out after 11pm, because most people did not have their recycling out until then.
I tried using a bundle buggy with a garbage bag for the cans with a cloth shopping bag attached to the front for the paper items.
i coke lids went into a ziplock in my coat pocket.
This system worked really well, speeding things up by about 75%, except that the cans rattling in the cart made more noise than I would have liked. Rolling the cart on grass medians rather than cement sidewalks helped somewhat.

[greencanuck]

Monday night, I did the third week of the recycling walk.
I got:
- 14 icoke lids
- 1 Kelloggs cereal code
- 2 sets of 4 juice coupons on Allen's juice cans
- 36 beer cans ($3.60 at redemption centre)
- about 20 sets each of P&G Brandsaver, Red Plum and Smart Source coupon booklets
- assorted other random coupon booklets

This time I went to another neighbourhood, after 9pm, because most people did not have their recycling out until then.
I used my bike because I was distant from home.
This meant that I chose not to get pop cans ( bulky, leaky and noisy), but found lots of beer cans to redeem.They are also stinky and drippy, but are worth 5 x the value of pop cans.
I put them in 4 layers of garbage bags and it was still messy.

The people were far cleaner with their recycling and also left a lot of beer cans not redeemed.

I got 'caught' by two different homeowners who were driving their cars into their driveway while I was taking some recycling items.
They were thrilled with what I was doing and peppered me for tips for more than half an hour each.

[greencanuck]

Tonight (Sunday) , I did the fourth week of the recycling walk.
I got:
- about 30 icoke lids
- 1 Kelloggs cereal code PINs
- a couple of other box codes
- 3 sets of 4 juice coupons on Allen's juice cans
- about 30 beer / liquor containers ($4 at redemption centre)
- about 4 garbage bags of uncrushed pop cans ( about $8 at redemption centre)
- about 25 sets of the most recent Smart Source
- about 5-6 sets each of P&G Brandsaver, Red Plum and Smart Source coupon booklets
- assorted other random coupon booklets

Lessons learned:
It was a quiet Sunday, with rain brewing so I went out about an hour before sunset around suppertime. Only about 1/3 of the households had their recycling out, so for the same amount of walking, you get 1/3 of the haul.
Because it was still light out, you get a lot more attention from *everyone* and must be comfortable with what you are doing.
Eventually, I gave up to return later.

I still went out with the bundle buggie shopping cart, lined with a garbage bag for cans and bottles.
I have a fabric shopping bag strapped to the front for flyers and box cardboard with pins and coupons. I also have a baggie for the icoke caps.

Around 11pm, I went out again and almost everyone had the recycling out, so it was much more worth the effort.
I went out for about 45minutes, at total of 3 times, at sunset, 11pm and about midnight.


CLIPPING TIPS:

This is a technique that I started using from week one.

When clipping more than 5 copies of any flyer, it is most efficient to take the pages apart, and stack each pile of pages very precisely by tapping the bundle on a table from different angles.

Next you take two bull dog clips ( large paperclips) and place them right where two opposite coupons start.

Cut **outside the lines* and you will have up to 30 coupons cut in seconds.
You can have hundreds of coupons cut and ready in about 15 minutes.

[greencanuck]

Here is a link to the Brag section, where a Londoner is commenting on my recycling walks.
http://forum.smartcanucks.ca/288049-...a/#post4609547

[sunny3]

Way to go! I've been out a few times for a very short time and few bins were out but worst of all, people were still outside and I don't have the courage to do it. I was up unwell almost all night last night and should have tried it. In my area, no Londonners are ever received except I've been getting it for a few weeks now only because I've been telling them every friday i didn't get it.

Tips for alcohol containers- I don't know about this city but in the past, I'd locate the hot spots in parks (around sitting areas) or sketchy areas near brush, sidewalks in certain areas, and sketchy townhouse complexes common areas at 5am usually Sat and Sun super early morning. I had raised almost 1000$ in just over 1yr. I normally used an old cloth bag since the snugging of articles would prevent the clanging. I'd also look around places that had common recycling carts outside. If I found a location with larger amounts, I would keep it in mind and come back later. The aluminum went for nearly 10$ of crushed per bag initially but the price dropped dramatically since so I personally found it wasn't worth it. I'd just spend more time and energy for 10-40 cent alcohol bottles and cans. FYI, the first recycling after major holidays yields way more alcohol containers. Also, don't forget about the wine juice boxes. You get to learn which areas or households have more (some areas you visit once a month and others are worth it once a week), which households party a lot... I had a designated old coat and pair of gloves just for the purpose of collecting. I really wish I had the energy and lived in an area that's better to do this sort of stuff. In my area there are hardly any houses, and people are night owls. Since in this city recycling and garbage is different every week, i have trouble remembering even to put my own stuff out. I only collected for charity in the past and maybe it's why i don't now- less energy, less ability... It might be easier to get myself to do it if I had a goal in mind where I'm the sole beneficiary.

[avoncallingu]

I'm interested to know where you take the cans that you get paid for them - and also, does the LCBO accept beer cans back for a rebate? what about the liquor bottles? Thanks ahead for the info.

[greencanuck]

I'm interested to know where you take the cans that you get paid for them - and also, does the LCBO accept beer cans back for a rebate? what about the liquor bottles? Thanks ahead for the info.

Liquor /Beer Bottle Redemption:
http://www.bottlebill.org/legislation/canada/ontario.htm

Pop cans go to metal recyclers. There happens to be one quite close to my home.

[PurpleBunny89]

I would love to do this except its illegal in my town.

I can only imagine the amount of free stuff/usefull coupons I could get.

[army_girl29]

I do about 3 to 4 walks a week. i tend to do about an hour each time. i go around 8pm and 7am. i alway-s bring reusable bags and aflashlight. i alsodrive to places and park and then do my walk. i prettymuch have all my asreas preplanned and now where to go to give you an ideaof how well you can do, last week i go about 60 icoke pins and 10 sets of oasis coupons. i also gotabout$8 in bottles. previous week i got over 30 insers, 2 cereal coupons and abunch of canadacdr-y coupons. it takes time to do really well and once you kjnow your area, you can almosdt do well.

[lucy16076]

Keep it up!! No sense letting all that good money go to waste!