Most students have seen the homeless people on High Street begging for change. Many of these people also double as what the homeless call “can men” in order to make more money.
Don, who also goes by the title “the rapping bum,” said he thinks it is a great way to make money.
“I made $72 once,” he said.
Don, a homeless man on High Street, is one of a small army of can men, many of whom are homeless and collect aluminum cans for cash.
They go out late at night or early in the morning and get cans from trash bins, lawns and sidewalks, said Sean Sean, another homeless man on High Street who did not give his last name.
The “can men” gather their aluminum bounty and go to Joyce Iron and Metal Company, which is located on Joyce Avenue, to exchange the cans for cash. Chris Shilland, a Joyce employee, said the company pays 65 cents per pound of aluminum.
The “can men” are well-known to Ohio State students, such as Michael Caldwell, a junior in philosophy and medieval and renaissance history.
“There are three reasons this is good,” Caldwell said. “One: I’m getting rid of my trash. Two: Bums get money from it. Three: We’re helping the environment because we’re recycling.”
Caldwell throws his beer cans and bottles into his front yard, but he also helps the can collectors clean up if they come while the party is still going.
“I meet them, get their names and offer them shots or cigarettes,” Caldwell said.
Being this friendly to the people who collect the cans is not always beneficial.
“Guys will sneak up on the porch,” Don said. “They’ll steal whatever is out there.”
He said they will steal aluminum grills or kegs because they are worth more money.
Steve Sterrett, community relations director for Campus Partners said, “I’ve not heard of specific public safety problems.”
Students do need to be cautious whenever they let someone they do not know onto their property, especially because no one knows who the can collectors are, he said.
Not all of the collectors are even homeless, which is part of the reason why large parties have such a high potential for crime, Sterrett said.
Sterrett also said that although the effort to recycle is a good thing, students need to be responsible for their own messes because can collectors only pick up aluminum cans, not all trash.
Sometimes collectors create bigger messes because they rummage through trash and trash bin to look for cans and just leave everything else lying around, Sterrett said.
Can collecting is not done by these men because of a need to recycle or to tidy up messes. Collecting is a way to make money to which most, including Sean Sean, would not resort.
Everdeen Mason can be reached at [email protected].
