Are the recycling centers near you privately owned?
There are some private metal recycling places around here but for the most part they just melt it down.
The public ones are run by the county but they don’t pay anything.
Some of the recycling centers around me are privately owned, some not. There has been a crackdown recently b/c so much stolen metal was being turned in to the private ones - which pay $$ for cans, bottles, etc.
I understand you have to leave some form of ID for turning things in - but I’m sure a few dollars kicked back will solve that. We had the copper pipes stolen out of our school one year - and the copper wiring in the air conditioning units as well.