Turn Plastic Bottles into Profit: A Guide to Selling Recycled Plastic

Instead of throwing away a plastic bottle after using its contents, you can recycle it to make some extra cash while simultaneously helping to protect the environment. In many counties across the United States there are recycling programs that pick up recycled items from your house. Although you can use these programs to help the environment by recycling your plastic bottles, you cannot directly earn cash from them. You need to sell your plastic bottles directly to a recycling center that accepts plastic bottles to earn cash.

Step 1

Rinse out all of the plastic bottles you have collected with clean water and place them in garbage bags or a suitable container.

Step 2

Launch a Web browser and navigate to your county or state's official website. Type "Recycling" into the search bar and click the "Recycling" or "Recycle" link in the results page to view your county or state's recycling information. The locations and contact information of recycling centers, the items they recycle and the amount the centers pay for items are examples of information on these pages.

Step 3

Call the recycling center you want to visit to get further information, such as hours of operation.

Step 4

Take the plastic bottles to the recycling center. Ask the recycling center representative how to cash in the plastic bottles. For example, some centers cash the printed recycling redemption on the bottles whereas others give a cash value according to the number of bottles you bring in.

Step 5

Place the bottles in the location stated by the representative, such as a conveyor belt. The representative issues you a voucher to cash at another location, such as a retail store, or gives you cash immediately. Whether you get immediate cash or a voucher depends on the recycling center or the state in which you reside.