For anyone with a garage full of cans, bottles or old electronics
Recycling & scrap value toolkit
Recycling isn't just civic virtue — a household can offset $50-200/year in scrap value on aluminum, glass, and cardboard, more with electronics. These calcs turn "bag of stuff in the garage" into a dollar figure so you know whether the trip to the scrap yard is worth it.
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Aluminum Can Recycling Value Calculator
The classic. 30-34 cans per pound at current LME scrap prices, or 5-10 cents/can in container-deposit states.
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Metal Recycling Value Calculator
Beyond cans — copper, brass, steel, and stainless are worth many multiples of aluminum by weight. Old radiators and appliances often hide the good stuff.
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Electronic Waste Recycling Calculator
Precious-metal recovery from PCBs, phones, and hard drives. A pallet of old CRT monitors can be worth surprisingly little; a bin of old phones can be worth surprisingly a lot.
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Plastic Bottle Recycling Calculator
Bottle deposits where applicable, plus the environmental impact side (CO₂ avoided, oil saved) for the reporting-nerd bill of materials.
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Cardboard Recycling Impact Calculator
Bulk cardboard from moves or appliance deliveries can be baled and sold — commercial scrap yards pay per ton once you have enough volume.
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Save your progress
Each calculator remembers your last inputs on your device, so you can leave and come back to any of these without losing your numbers. Every step also has a Share this calculation button that copies a link with your inputs baked in — useful for talking things through with a partner or advisor.