Interesting Case study of Neighborhoods and scrap

[Robarons]

Before I say anything this was painful to do as I used to scrap but its not in the cards anymore!

So we got a new patio set and we threw away the old chairs and table. The old chairs were 100% aluminum and the table was as well if you took the glass out. Clean stuff too- they where the chairs that were cast and welded as 1 piece etc.

Now I used to live in a depressed area where we had multiple scrappers every trash day. Heck I did it too for a few years with a beater truck I picked up. Local economy was bad so people did it for a living or to supplement income, was even a story in the papers. This stuff would not have lasted 5 mins. At least 40 pounds of aluminium.

However I have since moved to a much nicer part of the state where the scrapyards are sparse and far away. Also got rid of the truck too. So instead of breaking them down in the car, driving across town, and going to a new scrapyard (never fun) I just tossed them out to curb. I didnt think they would last very long.

Checked every few hours- still there. Woke up- still there. Came home from work- someone only took 2 chairs. Trash man came and threw the rest away.

Was floored by this- not one scrap guy. We do not have a single guy doing it here- might have a ordinance against it who knows but it shows that areas experiencing growth and lack of scrap yard infrastructure get no love

[highroller4321]

The suppressed metal prices really have killed a lot of things.

[Recyclersteve]

Robarons:

I don't know how far you are from a city of, say, 100,000 people or more, but if you are living in a really remote area, that could be part of it. If I had to drive 50 miles each way for A CHANCE (not a guarantee) of getting 40# of aluminum, I wouldn't do it unless I could add a few other errands to justify the trip.

Three other thoughts:

1) Do you have a Goodwill in your area? They have some stores located in pretty nice areas now. There was one I saw that moved into a building that used to be occupied by a Lamborghini dealership (and, no, the neighborhood hasn't gone in the toilet).
2) If you put a photo of these items on Craigslist (under the free listings), I bet they would have been gone quickly (again, unless you are in a really remote area).
3) The person who took two chairs was likely a person who needed just two chairs, not a true scrapper. (IMHO)

Interesting story- thanks for sharing. As you can tell from my name, I am definitely a scrapper.

[Dr. Cadmium]

Apparently you don't have many flea market vendors or other secondhand dealers in your area, either.

It also helps if you have a lot of drive-by traffic. If you live in a cul-de-sac, items can sit on the curb for months.

[Recyclersteve]

Apparently you don't have many flea market vendors or other secondhand dealers in your area, either.

It also helps if you have a lot of drive-by traffic. If you live in a cul-de-sac, items can sit on the curb for months.

Good point about the cul-de-sac. I am frequently out after midnight doing my scrapping (when the city is about to come by and pick up brush). If I look down a street and see it is a cul-de-sac, I frequently will avoid turning down the street (unless I can see stuff sitting by the curb before turning). I typically try to drive by perhaps 1,000 houses in 3-4 hours so I need to move quickly.

[AGgressive Metal]

One thing I've also noticed is simply age of the neighborhood. If the area is 100 year old buildings then there are going to be appliances, fixtures, and other random items many decades old routinely wearing out and being tossed. If its a new subdivision there is less "stock" of old metal stuff and the stuff that's there isn't worn out yet. The subdivisions that don't yield much now might have more in 10-15 years.

[Recyclersteve]

Another factor to consider is that many scrapping facilities have become more particular in what they will accept. For instance, I remember dropping off wire and they would accept it all. Then the told me I needed to snip the ends off the wire (more work for me). Then they told me they wouldn't accept coaxial cable at all. Again, more work for me as I need to look at each item I pick up before taking a carload to my local recycling facility.

In some states, facilities insist on aluminum cans being crushed or even not crushed. Apparently, some people stuff things like dirt in the cans to make them weigh more. That hurts the profitability of a necessary enterprise (the recycling business) which makes it more difficult for all of us. Another factor with cans is that you have states next to states where they have can deposit laws. For instance, Ohio is next to Michigan which has deposit laws. Some enterprising people from Ohio might decide to transport their cans across state lines to sell them in Michigan where they can make more money. This is illegal and beyond the scope of the program.

I know that California says they lose millions of dollars a year due to people bringing in cans from places like Arizona and Nevada. In fairness to the states (and I'm not a fan of government), they charge deposit money only on the cans that they sell in their states. Yet they pay back money on those cans plus others brought in from out of state. So, in some cases, the amount returned is over 100% of what was sold in the first place. I've talked to recycling facilities in a number of states and I remember one (in a state next to a state with container return deposits) telling me this: If your aluminum cans are unmarked we will give you 30 cents a pound. If they are marked with the container return information, then we will give you 60 cents a pound. So they were in essence telling me that they sold to someone who would transport them across state lines to get more money, illegal or not. FYI- I did NOT choose to deal with them at all.

Another complicated issue is with copper wire. If you turn in insulated copper wire, in some cases you will only get 20-40 cents a pound for the wire. That same wire, if stripped, pays close to $2 a pound, even at today's depressed prices. Yes, it takes time to strip it and the stripped wire weighs less, but it is still well worth it to many. Again, the bad guys (copper thieves) have made is difficult for everyone else. Many facilities (especially if they don't know you well) will insist on getting a copy of a business license from the scrapper before paying for their copper. I understand wanting to get rid of the thieves, but for a small-time scrapper, they don't want to have to get business licenses with the state and local government, have to come up with a company name, print business cards, have a more complicated tax return, have to track their mileage, etc. It is easier to just say "Forget it. I'm not going to do this anymore."

After several trips to the scrapping facilities and having items rejected it is easy to get discouraged and decide to do something else with your free time.

And, of course, it doesn't help that a number of base metals (copper, aluminum, etc.) have suffered price drops of 15-25% in just a few months. Steel in my area is paying only 4 cents a pound now. So if I pick up steel/iron, something heavy and dense like rebar is fine, but I'm not picking up any steel filing cabinets. It doesn't make sense to dedicate a big portion of my SUV to an item that weighs perhaps 20 pounds and only pays 80 cents!

There is a constant back and forth in the scrap business. Think about the law of supply and demand. When there are irregularities, they typically balance themselves out over the course of time. Nonetheless, in the short-term it can be very frustrating.