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Inspired by "A Pound of Metal Per Mil" by crazy tom, this is my version - I work in blacktop paving and its amazing what you find in parking lots. Anyone else who gets scrap on the job is welcome to piggy-back on this thread and post your finds if you want to track them.

5/11/12:
7 Aluminum cans
$0.52 US clad
$0.01 US 95% copper

Im a gas pipe fitter and find all kinds of things on jobsites.

rule #1 of working construction look in the trash pile as soon as you get there.

A few examples of things ive found are a compressor x2,tool boxes both full and empty,latters,$350 lights,found 87lbs of copper wire all in a box in one of those roll off dumpsters.

on friday I got a full propane tank becouse it had a 1/2 inch spot of rust and the lady said it was dangerous and where could she dispose of it I said "ill take it."

I'm always grabbing anything on the ground and in the trash on various
job sites! It is amazing what other workers and technicians are throwing
away.

I'm an underground cable locator and I go to 20-40 jobsites a day. This morning I picked up some old mangled grounding cable that a bulldozer pushed into a pit. Also got a few old iron RR tie plates and about 10' of chain.

5/17/12:
17 Aluminum cans

I think I might get into trouble if I took anything. I work at a large steel mill. Copper, brass, and steel EVERYWHERE. And my department runs a galvanizing and a aluminizing coating sheet steel production lines. 2000 lb blocks of 99% aluminum. 4000+ lb blocks of 99% zinc. I just shake my head at the waste. I've seen copper cables as big as your thighs just collecting dust!

TheJonasCollegeFund wrote:I think I might get into trouble if I took anything. I work at a large steel mill. Copper, brass, and steel EVERYWHERE. And my department runs a galvanizing and a aluminizing coating sheet steel production lines. 2000 lb blocks of 99% aluminum. 4000+ lb blocks of 99% zinc. I just shake my head at the waste. I've seen copper cables as big as your thighs just collecting dust!

Wow that would kill me seeing all that going to waste. Hopefully they have a scrap company that does pick-ups time to time that you haven't seen yet. Or maybe they recycle a lot of it internally?

One of my jobs was at a tool and die shop, and there were "tons" of scrap laying in the parking lot just outside their scrap bins. But I didn't dare touch the stuff, thats scrap the property owner clearly has a right to.
Also at work today I found $0.78 in change in a pile of cigarette butts and ashes. Someone dumped out their car ashtray. All of the cents were zincs.

I own the company so I get all the scrap! Of course, that's what we do, scrap. After working in the scrap business for 22 years, I can really tell some stories, but some other time. We used to do recycling work for two of the biggest railroads in the US. Needless to say, it would make your head spin to see what we have recycled in the past, not to mention all the IT and Data companies we work for now.

Found 5' of 5/8" copper pipe and apx. 20 lbs. of iron and $0.26 in change.

I scored a large shorted transformer, about 40 pounds.

Can't wait to see what I get for it tomorrow at the yard!

I got 8 bucks for the transformer.

Nice one Tom.

5/18/12
5 Aluminum cans

You guys crack me up, and at the same time I find inspiration in your posts.

Unfortunately, my line of work is landscaping, and no-one is paying scrap for weeds, grass, & sticks. Although I do manage to scrounge in a few gutters at roadside once in a while. I'm probably overlooking a lot; we're either on a tight schedule or trying to stay ahead of the rain.

Too bad, really, as there are two scrapyards within a couple miles of here.

Found 4 AL cans, a 6" X 6" lead shim, 5 more RR tie plates and a vacuum cleaner(broken).

11 cents and a aluminum can

Found a 3' steel pipe, 7 AL cans, an iron paperwieght shaped like a dog and 4 cents -all copper.

Today I found a 25' tape measure, 2 wrenches and a pliers -all on the side of the road. I also dumpster dove for about 25 lbs of scrap steel.

Scored a burned out blower motor.

Got a nice little palm-sized bundle of clean copper wire (maybe 1/8 or 1/4 pound) from helping my friend wire a basement.

hirbonzig wrote:Found 4 AL cans, a 6" X 6" lead shim, 5 more RR tie plates and a vacuum cleaner(broken).

Vacuum's are nice. a good motor in them and a nice long heavy cord. I keep the cords to make others longer or to make drop cords.

A construction crew grading for a new dedicated busway is tossing these into the swamp, just far enough out of their way to complete the job. The RR went defunct long ago, and no one appears to have any interest in recycling them. Juuust a tad too heavy to get into the truck

I have a 3 foot peice I got to make a anvil out of and it is to heavy for me to lift.

Morsecode wrote:A construction crew grading for a new dedicated busway is tossing these into the swamp, just far enough out of their way to complete the job. The RR went defunct long ago, and no one appears to have any interest in recycling them. Juuust a tad too heavy to get into the truck

$400.00 a ton cut into 2 foot lengths.

Time to rent a chopsaw and get that job done.