Well still considering you can have 8 people in one household (i guess this is the limit) and assuming they at least at twice a day. you get almost 1k simoleon a day. However much easier method like painting could also earned the same if not more and need not rely on sim wanting to eat / drink at all. To get advantage of recycle bin, you need at least two sim household to at least get a free meal everyday. Meanwhile could be abused by single sim household or full household just about the same. So in my opinion painting is better.
NOTE: toward fabulously wealthy aspiration, if your household funds are already high, you only need to worry on earning part. However even a child sim could participate in video gaming competition. While not very reliable at first, when you do it often enough, you can always score a winning prize reliably. When entering teen it was even better because all skills are unlocked.
In no way i disrespect the recycle bin method but after a while watching your sim grabbing plates / garbage / glass got boring quickly. I actually much prefer having that electronic bin so that my sim didn't have to put the garbage out anymore.