East London Recycling Walk

[greencanuck]

Last night (Wednesday) , I did the fifth edition of the recycling walk.
( There was some weeks of a break due to illness and injury)

I got:
- about 14 icoke lids
- 2 Post Cereal Reebok T-shirt box codes ( already redeemed)
- about 25 beer / liquor containers ($3 at redemption centre)
- about 2.5 garbage bags of uncrushed pop cans ( about $5 at redemption centre)
- about 20 sets of the most recent Red Plum coupon booklet
- coupon on soda box for $1.50 off Canada Dry gingerale
- coupon on Nestea box for B1G1 Cineplex movies
- assorted other random coupon booklets

Lessons learned:
It was a quiet night, slightly cool with light rain threatening, so I dressed appropriately.
About 2/3 of the households had their recycling out, at midnight.

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.
There is a baggie in my left pocket for the icoke caps and a small bright flashlight in my right pocket

I went out for about 45 minutes, twice from midnight onwards.


TIPS:

WHAT TO LOOK FOR:
It helps to have a mental list of common areas where coupon booklets, coupons and PIN codes are likely to be found, so you know where to really look and where to skim ( ie hurry past, but still look)
Current examples: RedPlum in home delivery free papers, Cereal boxes for PIN codes, Nestea tins and boxes for coupons, Canada Dry box for coupons, most coke bottle caps for PIN codes, etc, etc)


COUPON BOOKLET LOCATIONS:
It really speeds up the process if you know exactly what you are looking for and where.
If a popular coupon booklet is due to come out ( Ie Red Plum, Brandsaver), estimate when it will hit recycling.
(ie Delivered May 3 , recycling May 9)

Also if that coupon booklet comes to your home by a local free paper,when it arrives at your home, look through and estimate roughly where it is is placed with other flyers.
(The person who delivers will pack them all approximately the same way)

Example: Red Plum arrived in the May 3 Londoner, about 5th flyer in the bundle right after Giant Tiger, London Free Press, Saturday May 5, insert flyers)

About 50% of people recycle the entire bundle of free papers and flyers without even opening them.
Many are just placed on top of the blue box exactly as they had been delivered days before.
This is great for us because the papers are as fresh, organized and tidy as when they come from the delivery person.

This will allow you to ignore about 80% of the papers and save lots of time.

[greencanuck]

This morning (Friday) at about 7am, I did the sixth edition of the recycling walk/ bike ride.

I got:
- about 7 icoke lids
- 1 Cereal box code for free juice
- about 15 sets of the most recent Red Plum coupon booklet
- 1 coupon on soda box for $1.50 off Canada Dry gingerale

Lessons learned:
It was early morning (7am) in a neighbourhood about 7km from my home.

I went out on my unusual bike and had a fabric shopping bag for flyers, box cardboard and coke lids.

I chose not to get any bottles, or cans due to the noise and mess inside my unusual bike. (Items are stored inside the shell of the bike with me).

Also, getting the Red Plums was a high priority, due to the frozen fruit coupon that coincides with a current sale to give me about 85% off.
I had to prioritize due to tight time in trying to beat the recycling truck.

There was plenty of light , but the neighbourhoods had lots of people, so you can't be shy about rummaging through blue boxes and recycling bags.

I went out for about 45 minutes, and was playing cat and mouse with the recycling truck, mostly loosing to empty blue boxes as I cycled past.
Usually I missed getting the goodies by only 5- 20minutes.
I finally hit a few patches of homes that the truck had not gotten to yet.

The most fruitful areas were two townhouse complexes where they had their blue boxes in all one area.


I was able to redeem 11 of the European frozen fruit coupons within minutes of completing the recycling walk.
There was a nearby Food Basics and that item is on an unadvertised special for another week.
Regular price $5.99 Sale price $ 2.74 - $2 coupon = $0.74 ( not taxed as it is not a refined food)
That is about 85% off the regular price.

TIPS:

The best times for getting to the blue boxes are 11pm- 6am.

Bulk recycling box areas ( such as townhomes) are really fruitful.

If you go out at daylight ( ie 5pm-8pm or 6am -10am) be comfortable with a lot of people seeing you rummage through blue boxes.

If time is tight, prioritize what items to get that are high value.

[jasperandchar]

Another man's trash is another man's gold!

[sunny3]

Way to go! It always seems on recycling night I'm sleeping at 9pm night before and not up early enough. Around my place, 10pm is way too early.

[sunny3]

Got my butt out of bed at 4am and I went out. I was out 1hr and 20 minutes after a night when it was storming at 9pm. Everything was wet, there were about 5 households with recycling bins out per block. It was so dark i couldn't see in the first 5-8 boxes i peaked into and I should have read your tips before I went, especially about having a flashlight and tying hair back. I only brought one fabric bag. I was really wanting coupons from cereal boxes or allens cans. I saw one cereal box (no coupon) and one can of allens (no coupon) on my entire walk. I was also looking for flyers but in the area I was at, it was quite obvious everyone had gone through their flyers. I didn't want to dig for coupons in those because they were fairly wet and I didn't think it would be the best use of my time. By 5am people were up and during my walk people's windows were open. I'm a shy picker- i want no one to see me. I was in a neighborhood I didn't know, even though i was close to home and i almost got lost.

I got 8 icoke lids, 20 beer cans, and 2 larger alcohol containers.

The recycling truck goes by later in this area but I don't want to be seen. I was at 2 complexes and didn't find anything at all (these have poor recycling participation). At the next recycling, I hope to get a chance to go for a bike ride around 8pm the night before in a different neighborhood to see how many people have put out their bins.

[jasperandchar]

awesome sweep...I love recycle walks....I haven't had the opportunity to don one in several weeks....going through withdrawal...I havent' decided if I will do them during the summer as more people will be around their homes (lol)!

[leymi15]

All of you are valients!!!
I can't do that in my neighbourhood, the people always is around and I'm shy if people look at me..........I can't a ride in a bike with four kids... impossible.... LoL