From trash to cash: NY bill could double value of your used cans, bottles

NEW YORK - "Canners" could be spotted on any day in NYC, lugging plastic bags full of cans and bottles, and soon, they could be worth even more money.

A new bill in the state legislature would raise the amount you get for recycling from five cents to 10 cents.

Chances are, every week, the "canners" are making their way to redemption centers to meet someone like Midori, who usually cashes them out.

"Some people do this for a living, other people do it because they want to buy something nice with it," Midori said.

Midori hands cash over to moms such as Edith Hernandez, who's had three more children since she started collecting cans as a side hustle.

"It kind of helps, yea, especially when I have three of them in college, one of them in high school right now, and hopefully he’s going to college too," Hernandez said.

A study found earnings on average for canners make up a third of the state’s minimum wage. 

What would the bill mean?

So, a bottle bill sponsored by State Sen. Rachel May expands the items on the intake lists, adding wine and liquor to the products on the list.

But most importantly, it doubles the pay out from five cents per item collected to 10 cents – the first raise in 40 years.

"It would be a lot cause of whatever comes out here I have to give my daughter for transportation, so she can go to college," Hernandez said. "She grabs the subway."

'We're not built for this'

But opponents of the bill said it creates a burden on liquor store owners, requiring them to hold onto a larger volume of bottles before they're picked up.

"We're not built for this," said Michael Correra, executive director of the Metropolitan Package Store Association. "We never were. We don't have the extra space. You know how expensive New York is, you know how expensive it is to do business."

Most recent estimates count between 4,000 and 8,000 canners across the state.

Hernandez, though, is hopeful the bill gets passed and enacted by 2026 to earn more. That’ll cut into the nearly $3 each way it takes for her kids to pursue better lives for themselves.

"Some people say its only $3," Hernandez said. "How many cans I have to pick up for $3?"