Recycling booming as Americans seek cash

At Meadville Metal in Meadville, Pa., operations director Norman Eaton said a year ago he had a daily average of about 180 customers. Now, an average of 250 people come through his eight-acre business every day. There is a 20 percent increase just among people recycling aluminum cans.

“There’s a lot of 80-year-old farm stuff in the fields from what I’ve seen people drag in,” Eaton said. “We have real collectors with 200 pounds and the little grandmother bringing them down in the back of her Cadillac five pounds at a time.”

Small business owners are also independently recycling to try to cut trash hauling fees, which have risen alongside fuel costs, said Pittsburgh’s Public Works Department.

Guy Costa, the department’s director, said the department is collecting twice a day now at recycling drop-off facilities often used by small businesses that don’t get waste removal services from the city. A year ago, he said, they went once every other day.

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Just a few years ago, Stephen Greene, executive director of Waste Cap in Westboro, Mass., said his 14-year-old business almost shut down. Energy costs were so low in 2001 and 2002, there was little interest in recycling. Today, small business owners seeking to lower their trash costs are keeping him alive.

“The economy only puts more pressure on people to save money and conserve resources,” Greene said. “With energy costs rising, there’s more interest.”

The price of scrap is so attractive that thefts have soared in the past year. In some states, police departments have brought the problem to the attention of state legislatures, some of which have moved to enact new laws or change existing ones to combat the problem.

Delaware recently passed a bill requiring scrap dealers to hold onto items for 18 days after buying them to help police track stolen items. In Pennsylvania, a bill meant to tackle the problem has passed the House and is pending in the Senate.

David Fitzsimmons, of the Glenshaw facility, said he has seen a 15 percent increase in revenue from the items walk-in visitors have brought in during the past five months.

“People of a certain economic status ... are willing to turn anything over for cash,” Fitzsimmons said. “They’re going to pick up the old radiator, they’re going to pick up the old swing and bring it to recycle.”

Plumber Eric Frazee, 46, of Shaler, has owned Frazee Plumbing for 22 years and always recycles. Until recently, he spent the money in restaurants and at the movies.

“Now we’re using it more for groceries,” he says, stuffing the $76.80 he made into his wallet, the change clanking into his jeans pocket. “Every time you walk by, it’s like walking over a $20 bill in your garage. ... Now, I don’t throw anything away.”

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