There's guys who drive around in pickup trucks on garbage day picking up scrap metal. I've seen the same guy driving by every week for years now so he must be making a living at it. Might not work in rural areas where houses are few and far between. But still worth stopping if you're driving and spot an old fridge on the side of the road. Last time I brought in a load they were paying 8 cents a pound. For a fridge that's about $10-15.
Old cars are good too. The bigger and heavier they are the better. Sell the engine, transmission and whatever else you can locally. Put smaller parts on e-bay. You might get lucky and find someone who owns the exact same car and buys you out. After you've stripped the vehicle of valuable parts continue filling it with metal until you're ready to haul it to the scrap.
Copper and aluminum are worth a lot more but they have to be separated from any other material. An average sized home can easily have a couple hundred dollars worth of copper piping.
But don't view this as a growing business. Years ago everyone had aluminum siding and copper plumbing. Even those cheap garden sheds and above-ground pools were made of aluminum and could fetch a couple hundred bucks. Now it's all plastic.
|