In a deposit state, cans are worth roughly three times their scrap value. California’s official refund rate is $1.66 a segregated pound at a certified recycling centre, while used beverage cans sold as ordinary scrap trade closer to $0.30 to $0.60 a pound. Selling cans by weight at a scrap yard in a deposit state gives away about two thirds of the money.
Scrap Price Today market analysis, written from exchange settlement data, mill and refiner pricing practice and published policy documents. Figures are examples; today’s numbers are on the live scrap price board.
Cans are the one scrap grade almost every household handles, and the one most often sold into the wrong system. The difference is not small, and it is knowable to the cent.
Two systems, one material
A deposit refund returns money you already paid at the till. It is set by regulation, it does not move with the metal market, and it applies only to eligible beverage containers.
A scrap yard buys the aluminium itself by weight, at a price that follows the exchange and changes daily. It will take any aluminium, eligible or not, but it pays metal value only.
| Deposit refund (California example) | Scrap yard, used beverage cans | |
|---|---|---|
| Measurement | Refund value per segregated pound, or per container | Price per pound, by grade, at the scale |
| Current rate | $1.66 per pound at a recycling centre, $1.69 at a reverse vending machine | Roughly $0.30 to $0.60 per pound depending on market and region |
| Set by | State regulation, published annually | Daily metal markets and local demand |
| Containers per pound | 31.1 at a recycling centre, 32.7 at a machine | Same cans, weighed the same way |
| Eligibility | Only covered beverage containers | Any aluminium |
| Moves with the metal price | No | Yes |
Those refund figures are the official rates published by CalRecycle, effective from the start of the year. Deposit states differ: several run 5 or 10 cent deposits on a narrower list of containers, and most Canadian provinces with a deposit pay 10 cents or more per can while others pay nothing.
A common piece of advice that is wrong
You will read that in California you should always ask to be paid by count rather than by weight. Check the arithmetic before following it.
At 31.1 cans to the pound and a 5 cent deposit, payment by count works out at about $1.56 a pound. The published refund by segregated weight is $1.66. Weight is usually the better of the two, and count is capped at a limited number of containers per material per transaction anyway.
Where count genuinely wins is when your cans are unusually light or you are redeeming large 24 ounce containers worth 10 cents each. Sort those out separately either way, because a large container lumped into a five cent pile is money left behind.
Which states run a deposit, and what it pays
Ten states operate a container deposit scheme, along with Guam. Everywhere else, cans are worth their metal value only, which is why the answer to what cans pay near you depends first on which side of a state line you are standing.
| Michigan | Oregon | Connecticut | California | Maine | New York, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Iowa, Vermont | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Measurement | Deposit per container | Same | Same | Same | Same | Same |
| Deposit | 10 cents | 10 cents | 10 cents | 5 cents under 24 oz, 10 cents at 24 oz and above | 5 to 15 cents by container type | 5 cents |
| Notes | Highest flat rate in the country | First state to adopt a deposit, widest beverage coverage | Doubled from 5 cents at the start of last year | Redeemable by weight or by count at certified centres | The most comprehensive coverage by container type | New York has a long-standing proposal to double its deposit |
Redemption rates follow the money. Oregon, Maine and Michigan report the highest return rates among deposit states, at roughly 87, 77 and 73 percent, while Massachusetts sits near 43 percent on a five cent deposit. That spread is the clearest evidence that the deposit level, not public enthusiasm, drives returns.
If you are searching for what cans pay near you, the practical order is: check whether your state has a deposit, use it if it does, and only then compare scrap yard rates for the cans that fall outside the scheme.
Why cans pay less than other aluminium as scrap
A can is not one alloy. The body is one alloy and the lid another, chosen for different jobs, and a smelter has to account for both when it melts a bale.
Cans also carry lacquer, printing and residue that burn off as dross, and thin material has high surface area relative to weight, which makes that loss worse. Clean extrusion from window frames is a single known alloy with almost no coating, so it recovers more metal and pays more per pound.
On most boards the order runs wire and extrusion at the top, then sheet, then cast, then cans, then painted and irony grades. Our aluminium grades guide sets out the whole ladder.
What the aluminium market is doing right now
This matters if you are outside a deposit scheme, because your can price is pure metal price.
Our US aluminium benchmark peaked at $4,195 a tonne in late May and has fallen to $3,371, roughly 20 percent below that peak. Over twelve months it is still up 32.1 percent, but over the last three months it is down 14.2 percent.
So a twelve-month chart flatters what is happening at the scale today. Anyone deciding to hold cans because aluminium has been strong is reading old information, a divergence we cover in our analysis of which scrap prices are actually rising.
Getting the most from a household quantity
- Find out first whether your state or province runs a deposit scheme. If it does, that is where the cans go.
- Keep them dry and covered. Wet bags take a moisture deduction at a yard and can be rejected at a redemption centre.
- Do not crush them if you are redeeming. Some centres will not accept crushed containers or will only pay them by weight, and crushed cans are harder to sort in single-stream systems.
- Keep steel food tins out. They are magnetic, worth a fraction of aluminium, and downgrade the whole bag.
- Separate containers of 24 ounces and above where a higher deposit applies.
- Leave foil trays, pie dishes and aerosols out; those are different grades and some yards refuse aerosols outright.
Where cans are worth collecting seriously
Bars, restaurants, offices, sports clubs and event venues generate cans at a scale that changes the arithmetic. A venue producing several hundred pounds a month is a commercial supplier, not a household seller.
At that level it is worth asking about a bin or baler on loan, a collection service and a tiered price. A bale of clean dry cans is among the easiest material a yard handles, and in deposit states the refund stream alone can fund the collection.
Key numbers
- California’s published refund value for aluminium containers is $1.66 per segregated pound at recycling centres and $1.69 at reverse vending machines, effective from the start of the year (CalRecycle programme rates).
- Official conversion: 31.1 aluminium containers per pound at a recycling centre, 32.7 at a machine.
- Used beverage cans sold as scrap typically trade at roughly $0.30 to $0.60 a pound, varying by market.
- Our US aluminium benchmark is down 14.2 percent over three months and 20 percent from its late-May peak, while still up 32.1 percent over twelve months (Scrap Price Today series).
- Recycling aluminium uses about 95 percent less energy than producing it from bauxite (The Aluminum Association).
- Cans use two alloys, one for the body and one for the lid, which is part of why they price below clean extrusion.
What this metal pays around the world
Scrap is a global market priced in US dollars, but what reaches a seller depends on trade position, freight to the nearest consumer and how many buyers compete locally. The table below converts the same grade into each market’s own currency and units at the day’s exchange rate, and shows the factor we apply.
| Market | Local price | USD per lb | Market factor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turkey | ₺96.67 / kg | $0.90 | 1.04 |
| Germany | €1.68 / kg | $0.89 | 1.02 |
| United States | $0.87 / lb | $0.87 | 1.00 |
| China | CN¥12.63 / kg | $0.85 | 0.98 |
| Canada | C$1.17 / lb | $0.84 | 0.97 |
| United Kingdom | £1.36 / kg | $0.84 | 0.96 |
| Australia | A$2.53 / kg | $0.83 | 0.95 |
| United Arab Emirates | AED6.69 / kg | $0.83 | 0.95 |
| Saudi Arabia | SAR6.69 / kg | $0.81 | 0.93 |
| India | ₹167 / kg | $0.80 | 0.92 |
| Bangladesh | ৳207 / kg | $0.77 | 0.88 |
| South Africa | R26.02 / kg | $0.74 | 0.85 |
How we produced this
The refund rates and container conversions are taken from the published California programme rate table, which is the official source and is revised periodically; check the current table before relying on a figure. Deposit values in other states, provinces and countries differ and are set by their own schemes.
The scrap range is a market range rather than a single quoted price, because used beverage cans trade differently between regions and yards. Our aluminium series is derived from the US exchange contract and is documented in full on the editorial policy page; today’s indicative levels are on the live board and the calculator converts a weight into a figure.
One limitation worth stating: our board carries an indicative aluminium price rather than a used beverage can price specifically, and cans sit below it. Treat the board as the direction and your yard’s UBC line as the number.