American Recycling in El Cajon is my go-to recycling center for turning beer cans into beer money. Service is always exceptional. Fast, efficient and friendly. read more

Super efficient. The guys are great. There were plenty of containers available for my items!!! Good job.

I've been going to this recycling facility for like 25+ years and have never, not once had a problem. Take my items to the station, weighed, payed and I'm on my way. Everybody's nice but they are busy. Not a lot of time for chit chat! read more

I've had such a great experience at this recycling center, which is not the type of business I'd expect to have a great experience at since the interaction with employees is pretty minimal. But the guys that work here are always very helpful and friendly and I always leave the brief interaction with a smile! They have coupons online that you can use to get a better pay for your bottles, cans, etc. and you just have to show them it on your phone when you get in line. Even when it's busy, the line always goes really fast. But ya, I definitely recommend this place because it's quick, straightforward, and the employees are all super nice. Keep up the good work, guys! read more

Came here this morning and was impressed by the helpful staff, clean parking lot, and smooth process. Thank you to the two employees who swept up the glass I broke!! I was totally unaware that there were plastic blue bins for glass and mistakenly put my glass in the wire bins causing them to shatter. Thankfully, two employees were quick and kind enough to help me out. Attached a photo of my receipt so y'all can take a look at their rates. Overall, would recommend and will come back! read more

American Recycling - Receipt - Recycling Center Near Me - El Cajon, California

Quick in and out service if you have your recycling items already separated. Wish they would post how they categorize the plastic recycling read more

Hard working staff. Also on a time crunch just like myself. I've been taking my cans and bottles here for many years and I wouldn't take them anywhere else. Y'all are awesome read more

I called another place, but they didn't pick up. I called American Recycling to verify what time they close. Like, if I call, the assumption is that they're open. They answered the phone and my questions, so they got my business. The location is relatively freeway close by an empty car sales lot. Plenty of open parking spaces on a Sunday afternoon. One of the helpful attendants wheeled over some bins for us to load up bottles and cans. Mini-me 2.0 likes to watch the conveyer belt and compactor make the crushed cubes. She's anxious to help with sorting & moving recyclables over to the weigh station, which I really appreciated, and she earned her share. COVID precautions in effect: distancing, masks, etc. There's an available sink by the office to rinse off sticky soda pop splashes. read more

See all

Very nice customer service, always. They are always helpful. Its quick and easy, right off of 2nd Street

Super easy! Two visits thus far. Plenty of parking. Grab your containers near the cashier. Roll them to your car. Separate aluminum, plastic and glass. Roll your items back up front. Wait. Longest wait time so far-13 minutes. Cash out! Both times someone was sweeping debris around vehicles in constant motion. BUT, wear proper attire for your safety:closed toe shoes, gloves and a mask. read more

American Recycling - 3 plastic, 7 glass and the rest! - Recycling Center Near Me - El Cajon, California

Came here for the first time and they were very nice! Be sure to show them a coupon first before they weigh your items!! It is very organized and clean here. They had plenty of bins for the customers to use. And they were decently clean considering how much they go through. The solid blur bins are for glasses. Everything else seems to go in the silver caged bins. They also have smaller blue bins for emptying liquids it seems. Overall very satisfied with my experience. read more

I used to drop in here regularly to carry recycling and dump cans/bottles monthly or so but recently I visited and was obviously shorted. They declared a lower weight to the till and gave me far under what was due, this was obvious to me since about 30 dollars worth of recycling became $9. Ive never had trouble with scamming at this location and was surprised that this is now happening, I hope whoever is in charge of this location does some independent investigating or a secret shopper to ensure that their workers aren't stealing money from recyclers. Stealing $20 a visit is not allowed, and these guys are heavy handed in their thieving read more

Great clean place to recycle cans and plastics and the employees are all nice and helpful! Also got a better price per pound from the owner, look for the coupon online! read more

This is a very good Recycling Center. They are friendly and quick. They have a decent size parking lot with lots of containers to place you recyclables in for weighing. I brought a number of plastic drinking water bottles which earned me $8 and paid for my lunch. They have several location in town including here in El Cajon, Santee, San Carlos, and La Mesa. They offer a fair market price for recyclables. read more

See all

To quote the awesome guy working the register, "don't come on a weekend. It's a madhouse." Good thing I came on a Friday for my first time. Plenty of parking, plenty of baskets on wheels. I had more than a hundred dollar worth of cans, plastics, and bi-metals. Piece of cake. I also didn't know to show my coupon to the guy working the register before we started weighing everything. My bad. But he was super cool about it and even fooled me by making it seem like he was super pissed. Fun guy! Will definitely be back! And definitely not on a weekend/holiday! read more

I was so lost where to go on a saturday, literally every place was closed or shut down or just not helpful. I looked all over SD, I was willing to drive. Good thing I took the risk. They are SO HELPFUL, there hours are the best. Pretty sure no other place has their business hours, they are un-matched. SO friendly the workers, and they just made it so easy for me. I got in and I got out - I wanna say thanks to Damian? not sure if that was his name lol. I do recommend though either coming with others, carrying your knife or registered handgun or whatever, or some sort of protection because there are a lot of interesting suspicious people that are in this area/street and do crowd around the recycling. SO just be aware of that. The neighborhood is NOT thee greatest...I would only come in broad daylight, with my knife and my man. Period. I would so come back though, they are the best for recycling!!!! read more

Always friendly and efficient I feel safe and comfortable going to this place of business

This has got to be the cleanest, most organized and friendly recycling in SD. For couple of years now it's been a constant struggle looking for recycling centers. Where the heck did they go? Not that easy to find. Made me question is it even worth recycling? But I am all for saving the earth and all that. They have a good amount of parking. Their location is easy to get to and find right off the highway. Right when I stepped up they made me turn into Post Malone for a sec and their set up was so clean they made me say Wow! I was greeted with friendly workers and right away a number of things stood out. There were no lines. Ample bins in an organized area where you don't have to wait. No stench that typically is present at these places. There was no ear piercing sounds of heavy machinery or breaking of glass. Then I spotted a clean sink to wash your hands. My observation was politely interrupted when one of the workers started talking to me in a genuine down to earth manner. These people are awesome. In less then a minute at the window I got my cash and was out of the parking. Wow! Luv these guys. They need to get some kind of organized cleanliness and customer service award. For now, Yelp! 5 shining stars :) Mel M Yelp 19:31 read more

See all

Great location, lots of parking, easy to access and quick to use. Friendly service, surprisingly clean for a recycling facility.

Hopefully the the entire staff understands that that personal carts are allowed.That's according to the owner. The employees claim otherwise read more

American Recycling - A personal cart - Recycling Center Near Me - El Cajon, California

I had at least 2 trash bags full of plastic bottles, 20 aluminum cans and couple of glass bottles. Only to receive back a little over a dollar. Amount of recyclables weighed are way off. They'll steal your money. I'll be going to a different recycling center next time. read more

American Recycling - Recycling Center Near Me - El Cajon, California

See all

Quick. Simply-Funny.. they crush them. Easy guy to work with. I'm sure I'll be back and tell my friends! Deco not open so we Goggled it and found this place read more

We went to this recycling center this morning like we have once a month for 10 years and today was the LAST time! We used to roll the baskets out by the trees where we used to stand with our personal carts because we WALK we don't have a car. Then we were told we were in the way by the trees and to go to the chain link fence to dump our stuff. We been going to the chain link fence for YEARS the old employees knew we stood there at the entrance of the fence. We have seen numerous guys on bikes over where we stand on several occasions and not ONE person told them to move. Yet the overweight white girl goes to the chain link fence and the jerk with the long pony tail comes over and tells me we need to move over near their big stinky trash dumpster and machines ( like it's safer over there...NOT) then by the fence out of the way of everyone. I told the guy to leave me alone that we were standing where we have been told to stand before and he said " well NOW IM TELLING YOU WERE YOU ARE GOING TO STAND" I said no and don't yell at me. SOOOOOO what does the big man do? He goes and tells anyone and everyone who will listen that I'm being rude to him and calling him names and cussing at him. I was like OMG seriously? Then I had the big bald guy come up to me at the line AND Mr pony tail come up on the OTHER side of me and started yelling at me and accusing me of stuff. Then when it came time to get our money. We normally got around 19 dollars for our load. It's not much but when you live on a tight budget every cent counts. We got 5 dollars!!!! Thats IT. And then a customer who thought she was all that decided to chime in when she didnt even know what was going on. I HATE it when people chime in when they have NO CLUE what's going on!!!!!!!! read more

I brought in 50 plastic water bottles and requested the Calif CRV value ( $2.50 ) , per Calif. rules on CRV recycling, however when i got to the window to be paid I was given only $1.50. When I asked why not the $2.50 required by law, the attendant mumble something about "I was paid by weight, etc , not CRV" , but did not offer to correct their error. I will be filing a formal complaint against them , with the State. read more

The guys here are awesome. Super sweet and never hesitate to lend a hand with the baskets. I won't go anywhere else in East county for my recycling needs. read more

The staff here is very friendly. Everyone here is always on the move so there is not really a wait time on getting your cash for the cans. Place has a lot of parking space. They'll pay good money for your cans. PS: Check out their website, they have a coupon that will make you a little more mulaaa read more

Good Prices, and the people are very nice that work here. The prices are on par with Edco, so I will definitely be coming back.

3:45 on a Wed, I was in, out, and done in less than 10 mins. Employees were friendly and efficient. Thanks for a positive experience!

Brought 45-50 glass bottles, looked at the receipt and they refused to go by count, said that glass must be weighed. Re-looking at the law afterwards, we are legally allowed to ask for count if 50 or less pieces. I received $0.80 for what should have been $2.00+ Honestly kind of mindblown at why they would do/behave like this, for a dollar or two. Are they really desperate to make money this way or something? Seems really sad to me people still stoop this low. Attendant looking back at me nervously/suspiciously the whole time. Come on, don't do this. read more

I got there late. They close at 5:30.. I thought they closed at 6:00 I got there at 5:45. Seeing how mad at myself I was, Enrique the manager was able to let me weigh in despite the fact they were all ready closed. My car was full, with barely enough room for my dog. Way to see a problem, and take it upon yourself to help a fellow human out! Robert E. read more

One guy actually dumped out all of my plastics to find nothing out of the ordinary. I.e. cheating with liquid filled bottles... etc. then did it to a second basket until he found nothing again holding up the line. But didn't do it to anyone else before or after me. Some of the numbers called out we're not accurate with what was printed on the receipt Or Numbers called out or not accurate or what the scale showed. Everyone else seems seems to have good experiences, But this is my fifth time here and my experiences are somehow more negative than what others post. Never returning here. read more

They don't allow walk-ins. It would be okay if I were a homeless person on a bike, but I can't walk in from my nearby apartment? Bogus. For what reason exactly? Makes zero sense. Going to Soring Valley from now on read more

This place is excellent. Very friendly. Very fast. Very helpful. One gentleman went out of his way to help me. Will definitely recommend!

My son is a consummate recycler. He learned about recycling at a very young age and it was reinforced in kindergarten, so he's pretty passionate about it. He's been doing it for years and has been squirreling away his funds faithfully. This school year because of his new schedule he needed to find a new place to recycle at that was open past 4 pm. He found American Recycling on the Yelps and after checking their website even discovered a coupon section and printed out some coupons from his phone and was able to get even more money for his plastic bottles. He ended up leaving there the first time with almost $40, so he was definitely a fan. It's dirty, I will say that. I got out of my car the first time and my sandals stuck to pavement. Just a warning. People obviously dump out drinks on the pavement, which is disgusting. At EDCO they don't allow you to do anything like that, but the parking lot here is not monitored. Wear some old shoes because they're going to get dirty! The people who work here are friendly and they explained what you need to know, like glass bottles go in the plastic bins, not the wire ones. They also don't ask for your license number like at EDCO. They have a sign by the cashier window that states that if you're disabled and need assistance with recycling, just ask and they'll help. They're located next to the Mossy car dealership on El Cajon Blvd, if you're at the dealership, you've gone too far and it's pretty hard to get back because making a left turn into the lot isn't happening. Remember to bring lots of hand wipes and sanitizer! read more

Always have a great experience here. Sal always seems to be on top of things. Every time I go he is there to help me unload and separate my item. He even helps me take them to the scale. I admit I have been there when it's super busy and over 100 degrees and the employees were still on top if it. read more

These people are so kind and helpful!! We love coming here!! I didn't know about the coupons and they gave us the coupon price.

Great customer service. got there right when close, and sal helped me unload a truckload of cans. Such a sweet heart! My Daughter has been saving money for a trip to dc, thanks for making it happen! read more

Very good and fast service always go to recycle never new about the coupons on American recycling .com until todayfrom Enrique and josh thanks alot read more

We have been bringing our recycles here for 12 years when we used to live in El Cajon. Very nice employees. Very clean and organized. Lots of wire bins for your cans, bottles and plastics. I recently learned that not all plastic juice bottles go in the recycle bin. Like large clear orange juice containers or other clear plastic juice bottles. They will still take them but you will not get paid on them because you didn't pay the CRV fee at the store. So please sort "BEFORE" you go to save them the time of digging them all out. All of the gentlemen who are employed here are super cool. They have 2 Enriques. Props to Enrique T. who assisted us this time. I honestly cannot ever say we had anything but excellent service. read more

This is truly a five star place for recycling!!! I have been taking my recycling there for several years. This place is honest and is consistently well maintained, The baskets and barrels are kept in good shape and the yard is kept clean. I have had employees help me take my baskets and barrels of recycling to the cashier's booth. I think one of the best things about this business is that the owner really cares about his employees. I know that he once purchased cooler, more breathable shirts for them to wear. Safety is a priority both for his employees and his customers. It's nice to always be greeted with a smile, even on terribly hot days. read more