Hello everyone from Kansas. I have been around but not involved in recycling for about 15 years. My best friend used to scrap non-stop. I always had a forty hour a week job in a machine shop. I would visit him often and every time I left his house my vehicle would be full of "new" treasures.
One day it might be bolts or screws, the next time might be screwdrivers or allen wrenches. He lived in a major city, owned the lot next to his house and had a privacy fence around his whole yard. I could hardly believe all of the stuff that he had accumulated behind that wood privacy fence. He had been doing this for years, had a regular route that he would run and would pickup everything from cans to compressors out of a retail stores dumpster that had been returned but there was nothing wrong with them. We would sit around and B.S. and the whole time he would be stripping insulation off of wire, saying "George I can't believe how wasteful people are. How can a business throw this kind of stuff away and stay in business?" I would say I don't know but I'll take one of them drills since you now have 6, we would laugh, he would give me a drill and a handful of bits.
My friend died 4 years ago and I lost my job last year. Money is real tight now and my landlord had a rental that just became vacant and needed to be cleaned out. He told me I could have anything out of the garage that I wanted and take the rest to the dump. I hauled almost 1100 lbs of scrap to the salvage yard. I can't believe it has taken me this long to remember what my friend had taught me, and instead of looking for another job, I just need to get out there and make money and be happy.
I wish I would have asked more questions and paid more attention when I had such a great opportunity but thought my job was secure and would be there 'till I died. Sorry for such a long post...but thanks for listening...or reading, and nice to meet you.
Register To Reply
Bookmarks