Yes Virginia, there is a sant....er, as to the questions...
Well, I used historical New York Metro fares as a baseline....in the early 1980s fares were 75 cents. They are now $2.50 or somewhat more than three times as much. A full priced seven day pass is now thirty dollars, so I assumed $10 was reasonable. Clark wouldn't be eligible for a reduced price pass unless he was willing to show identification, I'm assuming, which at this point is unable to do.
It takes about 31 cans to make a pound and recycling rates on cans haven't kept pace with inflation- averaging 1 to 2 cents per can. (Rates recently fell to a low from 70 cents a pound in 2008 to 25 cents in some places. Prices fell after a lot of recycling centers opened in the 1990s.) Aluminum scrap prices were actually relatively high in the early 1980s.
New York had a bottle bill since 1982 giving 5 cents per bottle that is redeemed. Of course, no telling if Metropolis had a similar bill, and even if it did, Charlie probably didn't Clark to have to lug around that much weight in bottles walking across town.
