Create a campaign, share it with your block. Neighbors leave their recycling outside — you collect, cash in, and keep every dollar.
Just signed up
Katie on Oak St.
Fundraising campaign
by Sarah Johnson · Lincoln, CA
$287
raised of $500 goal
57%
to goal
14 neighbors signed up
Next pickup
Sat, Apr 19 · 8–10am
Saturday earnings
+$62.40
Perfect for
One person drives the route. A whole block donates recycling they were already throwing away. Nobody spends money.
Create your campaign
Set your goal, describe what you're raising for, and pick your available pickup days. Takes about 2 minutes.
Share your link
Post it to your street, Nextdoor, or group chat. Neighbors sign up themselves — no chasing anyone.
Drive, collect, cash in
Show up with your car, grab the bags, drop everything at a redemption center, and log what you earned.
Click the campaign link
A neighbor shares it — by text, Nextdoor, Instagram, whatever. Click it to see what they're raising for.
Sign up in 2 minutes
Enter your address, pick a pickup window that fits your schedule. No account, no app, no money.
Leave it outside
Bag your bottles and cans before the window opens. Leave them out. That's literally your whole donation.
Every detail is built around the actual experience of doing this — collecting recycling, driving a route, and hitting a goal.
When a neighbor signs up, we nudge them toward whichever window already has the most people near them. Your route stays tight automatically.
Neighbors get an email before each pickup with their self-service link. Skip, cancel, update notes — no login needed, ever.
One-time drive or a weekly route — set it and forget it. Biweekly too. The schedule runs itself from your first signup.
You get a private management link. Donors get their own self-service link. No passwords, no installs, no friction for anyone.
Your dashboard lists every donor in proximity order for each pickup, so you drive the most efficient possible route every time.
RecycleRaise takes nothing. Every dollar from the redemption center goes to your goal. Free forever — no commissions, no catch.
Not all recycling is worth collecting. These three are — redeemable for deposit value in 10 states, or by weight everywhere else.
Beer, soda, sparkling water. Aluminum has the highest scrap value per pound of any common container.
✓ Prep: Empty, rinse, leave the tab on.
✗ Not accepted: Foil, pie tins, food cans.
Accepted in all deposit states. Look for the recycling symbol with #1 (PET) or #2 (HDPE) on the bottom.
✓ Prep: Empty, rinse, replace the cap.
✗ Not accepted: Yogurt cups, bags, clamshells.
Beer, wine, spirits, juice. Worth full deposit in 10 states, redeemable by weight elsewhere.
✓ Prep: Empty and rinse. Remove lids.
✗ Not accepted: Broken glass, ceramics, windows.
Pick your state to see deposit rates and get a real estimate for a pickup run.
CRV: 5¢ under 24oz, 10¢ 24oz+. Redeemable at any certified recycling center.
Estimate your haul
Estimated earnings per pickup
$40.00
Per household
$4.00
Estimates assume average container sizes with deposit values. Actual earnings depend on your local redemption center and exact container counts.
Real fundraisers, real results.
“I hit my $400 goal in three weeks. My neighbors loved it — they were helping without spending money, just putting out what they were already throwing away.”
Maria T.
High school soccer player, California
“Michigan deposit cans are 10¢ each. With 18 neighbors signed up, I'm pulling in $60–80 every Saturday morning toward my band trip fund.”
Derek W.
High school student, Michigan
“I was skeptical but set it up in five minutes. Two weeks later I had 9 neighbors and $130 raised. The route grouping is genuinely clever.”
Priya S.
Parent fundraiser, Oregon
You collected the bags. Here's where to turn them into cash.
Quick answers about how recycling fundraisers work on RecycleRaise.
RecycleRaise is a free fundraising platform that turns neighborhood recycling into cash. Fundraisers create a campaign page, neighbors sign up to leave their bottles and cans outside on pickup day, and the fundraiser drives a route, collects the bags, and cashes them in at a redemption center. RecycleRaise takes no fees or commissions — every dollar raised goes to the fundraiser.
You create a campaign in about two minutes (name, goal, pickup days). You share the link with your street, Nextdoor, or group chat. Neighbors sign up with their address and pick a pickup window. On pickup day, they leave a bag of bottles and cans outside. You drive the route, collect the bags, and take them to a redemption center or scrap recycler to turn them into cash.
Yes. The free plan supports one campaign, up to two pickup windows, unlimited neighbor signups, automated email reminders, and a shareable campaign page. RecycleRaise never takes a cut of your earnings. A Pro plan ($4.99/month or $39.99/year) adds unlimited pickup windows, SMS reminders, AI-personalized emails, a printable flyer, route sheet, CSV export, and a Pro Insights dashboard.
Kids saving up for a goal, high-school and college athletes, sports teams, school clubs, scout troops, band programs, church groups, and any community organization that wants to fundraise without asking neighbors to spend money. Parents often run campaigns on behalf of their children.
Earnings depend on your state and the number of donors. In the 10 U.S. deposit states (California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Vermont), each can or bottle is worth 5¢ to 15¢. A route of 15–20 donors in Michigan (10¢/can) can yield $40–100 per Saturday morning. Outside deposit states, aluminum is redeemable by weight at scrap recyclers (roughly $0.40–0.60 per pound).
Ten U.S. states have container deposit laws: California (5¢/10¢), Connecticut (5¢/10¢), Hawaii (5¢), Iowa (5¢), Maine (5¢/15¢), Massachusetts (5¢), Michigan (10¢), New York (5¢), Oregon (10¢), and Vermont (5¢/15¢). In all other states, aluminum cans can still be recycled for scrap value by the pound.
Aluminum beverage cans have the highest value per pound of any common container. #1 PET and #2 HDPE plastic bottles are accepted in all deposit states. Glass bottles (beer, wine, spirits, juice) earn full deposit value in deposit states and by weight elsewhere. RecycleRaise campaigns focus on these three materials — steel food cans, foil, yogurt cups, bags, and broken glass are not accepted.
No. Neighbors donate recycling they would otherwise throw away. They never spend any money. They sign up, leave a bag of bottles or cans outside on pickup day, and the fundraiser earns the deposit or scrap value when they redeem it.
No accounts, no passwords, no app. Every neighbor gets a private self-service link via email to skip a week, update notes, or cancel — with one click, no login required.
GoFundMe asks for cash donations and takes a processing fee. A traditional bottle drive requires you to chase down donors or stand at a store. RecycleRaise is recurring and passive: neighbors sign up once, get automatic reminder emails, and leave their recycling outside — no cash requested and no doorbell rung. The platform is free with no commissions.
Two minutes to set up. One link to share. Your whole block becomes your fundraising team.
Create my campaign →