Just Scrap It!

We have all seen them in one fashion, or another; the cash for cans depot, the neighborhood junk man, or the towering piles rusted Iron piled high off-side the freeway. I am a "junk-man" by birth, and I have been around the metal recycling industry my entire life, but few outside our circle know much about our business and the unique problems it solves.

Laura and I, not known for idle time, have set out on an experiment inside the life of the true "junkman," the man who, truck and trailer, goes in search of the worlds unrecognized recyclables in hopes of hauling in a good enough "load" to bring home the bacon. This man, in his dirty overalls and mesh back hat, recycles more material himself than a common city street combined, and is very rarely admired for his work. Being around these type of men my whole life, but never really being in their situation, we set out to get a feel of how hard it really is to "Just Scrap By'"

The basis of the experiment is simple. Attach trailer to truck ----- drive and pick up metal bearing objects ------ sell these objects to local junk yard for money. Of course there are more details involved, but for the sake of explanation they are not relevant to YOU. Listed below are a few things we have learned.

Awareness
We, as a community, throw away a ton of things that could easily be re-used. For example this is what we were able to collect in one weekend
       1,000lb of Iron
          100lb of electric motors
           46lb  of insulated copper wire
           20lb  of copper
           10lb of brass
            46lb car battery
           25lb aluminum (this includes cans as well)

That is 1,257lb of items people were simply ready to throw away, material we would possibly lose forever because of unawareness. Despite what views you may hold of global warming it is hard to argue that something should be done to counteract our negligence when it comes to such waste. This may be a combination of education to make people aware and facilities that make it easily accessible.

Humility
Nobody wants to dig in the trash, especially me, but unfortunately this is where all of this stuff is for the "junkman." We often do not see his rummaging as a virtue, but this man takes your trash and turns it into food for his family, and maybe a beer or two. Once I realized what he had to bear in order to obtain his "load" I was instantly turned to respect his pursuit of sustenance and renewal.

It's Fairly Practical
It really is pretty easy to pick up your neighbors trash and turn it into a little cash. We use it for extra money to buy top shelf margaritas and new hand bags, but it may be the perfect idea if you are strapped to make the bills. If you think it's below you to recycle trash and keep the world constantly renewing simply drop your pride, you are doing a good thing.

So this is just a small view into the beginning of our experiment, and I hope you share similar experiments that you have done with us. As always, we greatly encourage your feedback and look forward to your comments.

Craig