The office I work in has no recycling, so two years ago I posted signs saying I would take recyclable items home and put them in my own bin. One average-sized shopping bag a week has turned into one A DAY - easily 200+ lbs a year diverted out of landfills. What, you ask, does this have to do with scrap metal? New York State has yet to force all beverage producers to put a return on their aluminum cans so things like Arizona tea, V8, etc wind up in my recycling. I discovered recently scrap metal places actually take these, along with things like empty pie pans, disposable turkey roasters, etc. Apparently my co-workers are a thirsty bunch because after saving these for awhile I had a trunk full in no time (and I drive a giant hooptie, so that's a lot of cans). I had never thought about selling scrap metal - the aluminum and steel cans you put in your recycling make the city a nice little lump of change to offset the cost of your recycling/trash services - but after seeing how fast I was racking them up (and my bank account after Xmas shopping) I figured it couldn't be too karmically bad to make a little money off my good deed.
Thus I took my first ever venture into the seedy world of scrap metal sales. Scrappers have become the pawn shops of the new era - ever read the paper and see someone stealing copper pipes, aluminum siding or galvanized drains out of houses? They are selling it to the scrapper for money, often with no questions asked. Pawn shops have come heavily under scrutiny by the police for receiving stolen goods so they often have policies in place to discourage this sort of behavior. Plus, short of jewelry, they can't melt down and dispose of most of the goods they receive for profit - not so with metal, which can be crushed, baled and melted before you can say "did someone sell you my stolen bike?" I was heartened to see this scrap yard REQUIRES you provide ID, keeps it on file and makes you identify yourself every time.
The facilities were well-organized, the cashier's office clean, and the employees very friendly, professional and helpful. To sweeten the pot, they give you a free token to the soda machine to say thanks for choosing them over the several other yards in the area. I was able to sell them not only the aluminum scrap but also a broken car rim (see my review of Pep Boys on Elmwood), drained batteries and some random other stuff (like a broken deadbolt lock I just replaced). Overall I was really impressed with how smoothly the place was run and the amount I made off the items (versus what the place will sell them elsewhere for) and its awesome to have places like this close by that take things you can't put in your regular recycling. Not only did this company recently move into a long vacant industrial area, bringing tax revenue and new jobs, but they seem committed to improving the lot and reducing the amount of crime associated with their business.
My only real complaint was the amount of work needed to the parking lot, which clearly hasn't been redone since they moved in and had several small ponds of snowmelt in its center. read more
