How New Yorkers earn up to $1000 a day collecting cans and bottles on the streets of the city

Blue plastic bags filled with empty cans and empty bottles look like rubbish to passers-by, but for the Queens family, led by Jeanette Pilataxis, it's a livelihood. How they earn up to $ 1000 a day, literally thanks to the garbage, the publication told New York Post.

Each bag is filled with approximately 200 discarded beverage cans, which are worth five cents each when exchanged at a recycling center in Elmsford, New York. All this aluminum and plastic provides income for the Pilataxis clan.

On the most profitable days, they can accumulate 100 bags, which in total gives up to $1000 in profit.

Pilataxis are not alone. Between 8 and 000 New Yorkers make money by collecting cans, bottles, and plastic containers, according to Ryan Castalia, executive director of the nonprofit Sure We Can Buyback Center. Of these, about 10 earn a living in this way. It was reported last month that millionaire homeowner Lisa Fikowski is known for collecting cans and bottles in her Brooklyn neighborhood.

Ray del Carmen, who lives in Brooklyn and is now a manager at Sure We Can, says the smartest can-pickers know that some days are more profitable than others. Although his days of collecting are behind him—he still helps his girlfriend who collects cans—they remember one holiday with special fondness.

"St. Patrick's Day is the best day," del Carmen said. Everyone starts drinking early. And so on until morning. Moving from bar to bar between 42nd and 45th streets, I made $800 in one day. They threw out empty bottles and cans, and I took them.”

Another hot spot is Flash Dancers.

“In four or five hours I made 2400, which brought me $120,” he says.

Family business

While wealthy New Yorkers look askance at can collectors hauling recyclables around luxury neighborhoods, 38-year-old Jeanette Pilataksi says the job brings self-respect and a good paycheck.

“This is better than my old job at the candle factory,” she said. It was too many hours for too little money. Now my family and I work together from noon until evening, collecting cans until our truck is full.”

The bags are transported in a white 2021 Mercedes Benz Sprinter van bought on credit. Sometimes the car and family members work overtime: "We go out from XNUMX a.m. to XNUMX a.m. and collect bottles and cans from bars before they close."

Additional smaller pouches accommodate the glass, but according to Pilataksi, “the bottles are the hardest part. They are so heavy." They also pay the same five cents per vessel as aluminum and plastic, an amount that has stubbornly not changed since 1983, when five cents were then worth 15 cents now.

While Pilataxis and her family are content to make money this way, the business started out of necessity.

“Fifteen years ago my father lost his construction job,” she said. - It was scary. We didn't know how we would pay the rent. He went out with a cart and started collecting cans. He is now retired and we have taken over his business.”

At first, she added, he collected 30 boxes a week. Now, on their best days, family members collect up to 100 bags.

Their decision to treat can collecting like a business made it possible, she says. They learned how important it is to build relationships with the owners in order to get their discarded treasures and ignore the haters.

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"Sometimes people tell me we're digging through the trash," she explained, rolling her eyes. “But we don't care. We know what we're doing."

All 12 members of the group are related and live together in their Rego Park house. Pilataxis said that their profits from the cans covered all their bills.

Children help collect jars from time to time when they are not at school. Pilataxis' nephew, 11-year-old Nelson, plans to go to college and recently took part in a gathering during the final days of summer vacation.

pension plan

For Mario Palonci, a 70-year-old immigrant from the Czech Republic, collecting cans has become a lifeline.

“I drank 20 or 30 cans of beer a day,” he said. He lived on the streets after he was fired from a construction site, now he lives in a Brooklyn orphanage and makes up for his lack of money by collecting 2000 cans a night.

“Most people who work all night go home,” Palonci said. “I spend the morning sorting my cans, sorting them into the right bags. It's hard work, but for me it's the best job."

In addition to money, he said that it brings him respect. “I work in Bedford Street,” Palonci said. “The bar owners know me and they know I won't make any mess. I'm professional".

At the orphanage, he is offered food, but the money provides Palonci with other necessities. In addition to extra food, transportation and clothing, he said, "I need cigarettes and the internet."

double income

For Josefa Marin, a Mexican immigrant, collecting cans means nothing less than a better future for her child. In the early 2000s, her daughter traveled from home to Briarcliff College on Long Island, and Marin struggled to cope with a string of low-paying jobs.

After she lost her job and couldn't find another, she turned to collecting cans to pay for her daughter's books, food, and travel expenses.

While talking to other can collectors, Marin, 53, took advice and discovered something amazing.

“I am my own boss and I can work hard to succeed. I walked around Bushwick and Greenpoint, went into bars and restaurants and asked for their cans and bottles. In the beginning, I was making $20 or $30 a day. Then revenues rose to $90,” writes Marin.

These days, Marin capitalizes on her established relationships with builders who appreciate her coming in and picking up their recyclable bags.

“It's all about relationships,” she said. – You demonstrate a work ethic and approach with respect. Just don't make a mess."

In 2011, she happened to meet a man named Pedro Romero, who was from her hometown of Puebla. He, too, struggled to survive in New York. They got to know each other, fell in love with each other, and joined forces to make good use of their time together. Now they live together in Williamsburg and work day and night.

As a team, she says they collect 5000 cans a day. They sort them themselves, so they can get 6,5 cents a can.

When a couple thinks about their future, they dream about the same things that many people do.

“At the end of the day, we want to live in peace,” Romero said. We are saving money and looking forward to returning home to our country. We would like to retire together in Mexico."