Five Valuable Items You Might Find in Garbage for a Good Price
Many individuals could use additional income, and they find ways to acquire it in diverse ways: requesting a pay rise, switching jobs, or obtaining a secondary job, to name a few. However, you might also contemplate venturing into selling trash. Not just any garbage, you understand, but the types of items that people regularly discard or abandon, which still carry enough value to make them worthwhile to pick up and resell. While these are generally volume businesses (meaning you need to sell a substantial quantity to make substantial money), you can certainly earn significant money by scavenging these items from garbage, dwellings, or even public spaces. Six surprising trash items that yield substantial profits are golf balls, wood pallets, cardboard boxes, wine corks, and egg cartons.
Misplaced golf balls can fetch up to $2 each
Over 25 million individuals in the United States enjoy playing golf, resulting in an astronomical number of misplaced golf balls. Approximately 1.5 billion golf balls vanish annually in this country. The astonishing part is that used golf balls retain a substantial portion of their worth. In accordance with Lashan Wanigatunga, co-owner of Two Guys with Balls, used golf balls can command anywhere from 15 cents to $2, depending on the brand, so you can amass a decent sum simply by picking up stray golf balls you come across.
The true moneymaking potential lies in retrieving golf balls from water hazards, as these bodies of water often harbor a considerable quantity of them that no one will chase after. There is, in fact, a career listing on the Bureau of Labor Statistics website for this activity, where it's noted that divers can earn $200 per day retrieving golf balls, with some individuals even claiming to earn $800 daily (Todd Hutchinson of Ballhawker). Retrieving golf balls from water hazards entails some risk if you're unfamiliar with underwater work or overlook safety protocols, but what other opportunity allows you to earn a couple of hundred dollars a day by picking up others' discarded belongings?
Discarded wood pallets can fetch up to $4 each
Wood pallets are abundant and useful, and if you've observed a local business with a sizeable pile of pallets or disposing of them in dumpsters, you might have an opportunity: Used wood pallets in good condition can fetch anywhere from 50 cents to $4 per pallet. All you require are pallets you can lawfully take (many businesses are glad to relinquish them if you merely ask), a means to transport them, and possibly some tools to mend pallets if you wish to maximize your earnings. You can leverage the North American Pallet Recycling Network to locate pallet brokers in your area, and companies like Kamps Pallets will even pay you and come to collect your pallets if you have at least 500 per year to sell. There are generally local pallet brokers in your area, so a bit of research might uncover additional resources.
Used cardboard boxes can fetch $1.25 each
Those Amazon and UPS boxes we consign to the recycling bin or offer to companions when they're moving can actually generate some money. You can sell empty, used cardboard boxes on platforms like BoxCycle, which pays anywhere from 10 cents to $1.25 for standard moving boxes and acquires just about any box you might have; U-Haul Box Exchange, where individuals post boxes for sale or for free; and Used Cardboard Boxes will purchase your used shipping boxes. You can also attempt to sell used boxes on eBay.
Wine corks can fetch approximately 10 cents each
Americans consume over 4 billion bottles of wine yearly, many of which wind up in recycling bins, but wine corks can sell for a reasonable profit on websites like Etsy or eBay. They typically sell for approximately 10 cents each, although certain branded varieties can command a higher price. However, this isn't a significant income source for someone relying on the average American's consumption of 16 bottles per year for stock. Nevertheless, if a local restaurant is discarding its used corks, you might have a business opportunity.
Used egg cartons can sell for 30-40 cents each
Used egg cartons represent a surprising niche market: Crafts enthusiasts utilize them, and small farms also acquire them for their egg sales. Your standard supermarket-derived egg cartons can fetch between 30-40 cents each on websites like eBay, which means that if you consume the average number of eggs annually (around 285, or roughly 24 dozen), you stand to earn an additional $60-70 alone. If you actually venture out to collect 24 egg cartons from local restaurants, hotels, or other businesses daily, that's a few hundred dollars weekly.
In correlation with the text, here are two additional sentences that contain the word 'money':
- By reselling these misplaced golf balls, you can generate a significant amount of money, as a used golf ball can fetch up to $2.
- Upon collecting and selling a substantial quantity of used wood pallets, you can earn a considerable sum, as these pallets can sell for up to $4 each.
