Hello,
Just wanted to introduce myself. I've been a recycler for most of my life. As a kid, I went recycling with my parents at a church. Once I could drive, even when there was no recycling, I would collect things to recycle and when I had a car full, I'd drive it all to a place that did recycle. At first my friends would make fun of me. Then they would start giving me their things to recycle. Now my whole family, friends, friends of friends and family, and people I don't even know give me all their stuff to recycle,
ebay/craigslist, or scrap. I really don't do it for money, I do it to prevent things from going to waste.
My first experience with
scrap metal was about 5 years ago in Chicago, IL, known for it's history of mafia and organized crime, and political corruption. I brought a halogen lamp and some pots and pans to a scrap yard. I had never done it before, so I asked to talk to someone to ask some questions. 2 huge thug-like guys came out and escorted me to the back room, where I found myself standing in front of a very intimidating looking manager. I wondered if I would make it out of there alive. As I started talking about some things I wanted to scrap, I could see that they pretty much had to stop themselves from laughing.
Today, I found this forum basically trying to find what to do with the growing piles of electronics I've collected over the years. I have to say that this forum is amazing. There is a wealth of information here. I've learned more in a couple hours reading this forum than I have in years just doing it on my own. So thank you for doing what you do!
I'm a software engineer / web architect and developer. I'm not a designer who makes the sites look pretty, I'm the guy who designs and builds the code that runs the sites and stores the data behind the sites. I've been thinking of building a site that helps every day people find where to recycle their stuff. The average person doesn't want to go to a scrap yard to be confronted by thug-like people, and they don't think of things in terms of what kind of metal or plastic something is. They just want to know where can they recycle or who will take their [thing], whether it be a lamp, or a computer, or whatever.
Well, I look forward to reading more here and hopefully getting to talk with some of the people here.
Thanks,
Mike
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