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For those who are so inclined to do a bit of scrapping, this is a great time of year to do so (weather permitting). You have lots of businesses that take inventory at the end of the year and scrap a bunch of stuff so they can write it off. As the old saying goes, one man's loss is another man's treasure.

Any further tips of whats the best scraped stuff to be looking for? I am in the Detroit metroplex now for the first time living in a city. So I'm interested in new opportunities.

This will vary from city to city. You should stop by a local scrap yard and see what they pay for different things. For instance, some cities pay for plastic water bottles and newspaper and cardboard- many don't.

Also, in general, you will probably do better gathering things like copper, aluminum and brass rather than steel/iron.

Something that is big like a washer or dryer will be difficult to transport without a truck. Even if you choose to take it apart- that will take a fair amount of effort vs. what you can get by scrapping it.

I'm pretty sure the Detroit area has grocery stores with machines that pay for aluminum cans and certain recyclable plastic bottles and/or glass bottles. The machines I saw on a trip there several years ago would only take one container at a time. It would be nice if they had something where you can dump a whole trash bag full of cans into it at a time.

My comments were directed more at businesses that may scrap things which have lots of wiring, copper tubing, etc. Some of these will only be scrapped once a year and now is the time to look for them.

Also, construction dumpsters can be a good place to look. You just want to check to make sure this isn't illegal in your area. Or tell the owner of the building that you are trying to recycle some of the materials they've thrown away, which may make it cost less for them to dispose of their trash (assuming it is weighed by the pound or that they are charged by the dumpster).

Good luck.

Recyclersteve wrote:My comments were directed more at businesses that may scrap things which have lots of wiring, copper tubing, etc. Some of these will only be scrapped once a year and now is the time to look for them

Right, I know how to scrap. Only amateur level from recycling our families junk(appliances, computers, etc).

I was asking: what are some big 'winners' to look for of things businesses would be throwing away as a end of year write off??

Scrapping in general isn't really a big winner right now with prices low. But if this end of year write-off brings out certain wiring and copper rich items, I might go looking.

So, you seem to have noticed end of year 'bounties' before, and probably already a little this year too, what are the best things you've found in past or are finding this year??

Thanks, I appreciate you sharing your advice and experience.
Thanks and Happy New Year!!

Scrap prices are low here in NY and the regular scrap collectors don't seem to be around. I am noticing more household scrap (washer/dryers,etc), than business scrap.
Right now Craigslist free items are abundant and some actually can be decent. With a place to keep things now is a good time for ambitious scrappers.

Nothing so far this year, but I remember a business a friend worked for years ago. The company took a hard drive from a mainframe computer which cost $120k originally (the hard drive- not the computer) and threw it in the trash, because it was slightly damaged. I asked if I could keep it and was told yes. So I'm planning on giving it to a computer museum someday and taking a charitable write-off.

I'm sure there are other businesses that throw potentially valuable stuff away.