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Canners make coin in Ocean Beach

By Kate Kowsh

March 6, 2006

San Diego--Next time you spot a homeless dude rummaging through one of San Diego’s back alley dumpsters, don’t feel so sorry for them. They can earn almost as much as you or your friends in a low-wage job.

California is one of a handful of states that offer cash incentives for redeeming recyclables. Even so, because of the effort involved in collecting and sorting materials, some people don’t even bother. That’s where an enterprising few come in.

“Canning,” as it’s called by industry insiders, is the practice of scouring streets and garbage cans for recyclables, then returning them for deposits.

Just after jolly Obecians have cracked open their last can of Bud Lite and called it a night, Sol gets to work. He dissects the beer-battered battlefields for recyclables, emptying their contents (sometimes into his stomach), then separating and bagging them.

For payment, he carts his collection up the street to RB Recycling Enterprise, a recycling center located behind Rite-Aid on Sunset Cliffs Blvd.

“I come here [to O.B.], I skateboard and I play music and so I need money every once and a while,” he explains. “I make $40 a day [canning] and then I still get six hours to play drums.”

Sol works three days a week, but says Wednesday nights are most profitable because of the Ocean Beach Farmers Market. “As soon as the street fair’s gone, I’m on it,” he boasts. “You better be here 15 minutes early if you want the cans, because I already got ‘em.”

With his dirty fingernails, tangled hair and raggedy clothes, Sol may look destitute to some, but he averages $480 per month from canning.

According to owner and operator Dan Regan, RB Recycling is the only facility that collects recyclables in Ocean Beach. Although its location has changed several times, Regan has kept it running as a labor of love for the past 15 years. The facility collects aluminum, glass and plastic, dispensing refunds ranging from $.04 - $.08, depending on container size.

Regan calculates that his facility collects 3,500 pounds of aluminum cans, 12,000 pounds of glass and 3,500 pounds of plastic bottles every month. “Ocean Beach, alone, is having a tremendous impact on the landfill,” he explains. “The volume of material that is going to us instead of the trash…is huge.”

Although Regan estimates that homeless make up only five percent of redeemers, he says they’re considerable assets to the community. “They are so helpful, because they do collect the material and that helps the environment.”

But, as one would guess, a place that attracts dozens of homeless, shopping cart-pushing vagrants occasionally ruffles a few feathers. Although the center is open five days per week, Regan only allows the homeless to receive deposits between the hours of 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. “While you’re here, be clean, be kind, be courteous and don’t come in here high,” Regan asserts.

In the past, he’s even hired a few ambitious “canners” as part-time laborers when things got backed up. Regan remembers one man named Jeff, who, through canning, got off the streets, bought a car and lived a good life before passing away a few years back. “He ended up being one of my best friends,” Regan says.

For a list of Recycling centers, go to: http://www.sandiego.gov/environmental-services/recycling/centers.shtml

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