recycling things around the office

Earning Money For Charity? 3 Tips For A More Profitable Bottle Drive

29 September 2015

Micheal Wagner

Are you hosting a bottle drive to raise money for a charitable cause? If so, maximize your earnings with the below three tips for a more profitable bottle drive.

Ask Local Companies To Match What You Raise

Before your bottle drive -- before you even make the flyers that will advertise your bottle drive -- start visiting local businesses. Explain to each business owner what you're trying to raise money for, and why it's important to raise money for this cause.

Inform each business owner that you and your team will be collecting bottles and cans to recycle, and that the money you earn from the recycled bottles and cans will go directly to the charity that you support. Once they understand your goal, ask the business owners if they'd be willing to match a portion of the money you earn through bottle and can redemption.

The 4-H Youth Development Program relies heavily on business donations and sponsorship. According to this nonprofit organization, you should be upfront with business owners about what they'll receive in return for their matching donation.

What can you give them? You can include their business name on all of the flyers you distribute to promote your can and bottle drive. Roughly 85 percent of consumers report having a more positive opinion of companies that support important causes, so the local businesses you solicit to match your bottle and can drive earnings may gain a few customers out of the deal.

When you create the flyers for your bottle and can drive, make sure that businesses that pledged the largest match are listed at the top, while those that matched a smaller amount of your bottle and can drive proceeds are listed toward the bottom of the flyers. 

Separate Those Pop Tabs

If all of the soda and beer cans you collect are going to the recycling center with their tabs still attached, you're giving away donation money. The tabs don't need to be intact when you return the cans, and pulling them off and returning them separately will boost your profits.

Soda and beer can tabs are made of high-grade aluminum. According to the Ronald McDonald House, a nonprofit organization who regularly accepts can tabs for donation, it takes 1,267 tabs to make a pound, and a pound of tabs can currently be returned to your local metal recycling facility for around 60 cents.

Think Strategically

Where is the best place to collect bottles? If you think it's at individual houses and you plan on traveling door to door, you guessed wrong. Instead, ask the managers of your local beverage centers if you can put out collection bins at their establishments.

Most of these places already accept returnables, so people already go there to get rid of their empty bottles and cans. You'll remind potential bottle and can donators of your efforts right when it matters. The cans are already in their hands, they just need to throw them in the right box to help you succeed with your charitable goals.

As an added benefit, you'll save gas money by not having to drive all over the place to get the bottles and cans. They'll all be gathered up in a few key locations just waiting for you to pick them up.

Just don't forget to be respectful to the redemption centers that agree to house your bottle and can donation bins. Make sure the bins are kept clean and tended to regularly. And don't forget to pull those pop tabs off before actually redeeming the cans for cash for your charity.

Bottle and can drives offer a great, environmentally-friendly way to raise money for charitable causes. If you're hosting a bottle drive for the cause you support, make it as profitable as can be by implementing the above three tips. You can also read more about recycling tips from other recycling organizations and past fundraising efforts.

Share