At 10-20 cents deposit it's not really "lucrative" enough to be a good income for anyone, I think you're lucky if you can make more than minimum wage doing it.
We have a similar deposit where I live (Vancouver), and a few times I've collected all my cans and dropped them off at the deposit center. The centers are in inconvenient areas, and I've dropped off maybe 400 cans, which is a pretty full car load, but takes almost 2 hours with driving and sorting. So about $20/hr not counting expenses like gas, wear and tear, and the car itself (many people doing this do so without a vehicle though).
And these were cans I had collected myself at a place I was living. If you consider going from house to house and checking dumpsters for the cans, it takes a lot more time. If you have a truck and 2 people and manage to grab all the cans on collection day, you might make a bit more than minimum wage, but outside of collection day I think you'd be better off with a minimum wage job.
I suspect a lot of people doing this have other obstacles preventing them from holding a job though, which is why something they can do on their own time is worthwhile to them.
For some more context, I think McDonalds starts at $18/hr here and even that isn't really enough to afford living comfortably in Vancouver. Also, most deposits are 10 cents, but I think some larger glass containers are up to 20 cents.
We have a similar deposit where I live (Vancouver), and a few times I've collected all my cans and dropped them off at the deposit center. The centers are in inconvenient areas, and I've dropped off maybe 400 cans, which is a pretty full car load, but takes almost 2 hours with driving and sorting. So about $20/hr not counting expenses like gas, wear and tear, and the car itself (many people doing this do so without a vehicle though).
And these were cans I had collected myself at a place I was living. If you consider going from house to house and checking dumpsters for the cans, it takes a lot more time. If you have a truck and 2 people and manage to grab all the cans on collection day, you might make a bit more than minimum wage, but outside of collection day I think you'd be better off with a minimum wage job.
I suspect a lot of people doing this have other obstacles preventing them from holding a job though, which is why something they can do on their own time is worthwhile to them.
For some more context, I think McDonalds starts at $18/hr here and even that isn't really enough to afford living comfortably in Vancouver. Also, most deposits are 10 cents, but I think some larger glass containers are up to 20 cents.