Recycling Secrets

Free Guide to Starting Up In Scrap Metal, Scrap Electronics, E-Scrap, Salvage and Recycling

2012-01-11T01:31:00.000-08:00

Hi - I've just created a new resource especially for newbies (newb, newby, newbys, noob). I'll be updating it frequently and I'd love to hear from you if you have questions, comments or - anything at all. Check out the New Guide to Starting Up In the Home-Based Scrap Metal, Scrap Electronics, E-Scrap, Salvage and Recycling.

Older Computer CPUs Worth Much More than Gold Content

2012-01-09T00:55:00.000-08:00

Found an interesting article about the value of older CPUs. Here's an excerpt:

"For those individuals ready to set off on a treasure hunt for rare and valuable microprocessors here’s a quick list,” said Gallagher. “C4004, C4040, 8080, C8080, MC8080, G8008, X8008, C8085 and C8086, all these go for at least $100 and some of them will go for over $1,000. Generally speaking anything from Intel with a date code from the 1970s is worth more than its gold value. Gold value for most ceramic computer chips is around $2 to $4."

Entire article is here: http://archive.arabnews.com/?page=11§ion=0&article=75682&d=5&m=1&y=20066

Dated 2006 so gold value a bit off. Hope this is useful.

Old Computer Chips, CPU and Computer Values - Alternative to Scrapping E-Waste

2012-01-07T19:50:00.000-08:00

I advocate selling scrap metals and e-scrap as the last option after reuse and collector alternatives are checked out. If you are into e-scrap, computer recycling, these may be of interest to you.

Here's a wanted list of various old chips/cpus with some descriptions
CPU World Wanted Chips

A resource for computer chip collectors:
Resources for Chip Collectors

There's a list of old computer collector values at
Values of Old and Collectible Computers

Good Luck! And Happy Hunting.

Mike

Beware the Scrap Metal Bubble is Leaking and Will Burst

2012-01-07T00:41:00.000-08:00

Actually we're in a bubble inside of a bubble - more on that it a minute.

The dotcom bubble and collapse was a given. I could see early on that most of the dotcom startups were making money off of other dotcom startups. There was little money coming in from the outside. It was inevitable that it would collapse and it did.

The housing boom bust was also foreseeable. Prices kept going up and along with them the percentage of people who could afford the higher prices kept going down. It only lasted as long as it did because oversight of the mortgage industry was hindered by the Bush administration so that people could easily borrow too much. The bust will be over when people can once again have a job in America and purchase a home that they can afford. We are not there yet.

Scrap metal prices have boomed in recent years mainly because of the demand in China and India. This demand is based on them being able to use these raw materials and manufacture things to sell to us in the U.S. especially through big box stores like Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot, etc. As we get poorer and buy less of this stuff, the demand for our scrap will surely go down. The irony is that these big box stores don't pay enough to folks to be able to buy homes (so housing bust goes on) nor do they pay enough so that they can buy all the goodies from China that are made with our scrap.

The big bubble is the 20th century and in the early 21st century we've seen it begin to burst. Poverty is up, jobs are down, good jobs are really really down. Any efforts to create jobs through rebuilding our infrastructure or just create jobs in general is thwarted in congress. Our congress still believes that reducing the taxes on the rich, the "job creators" will allow them to create jobs, make more money and it will trickle down to us. Trickle down from the "job creators" has never worked, never will. You can only believe in this if you don't believe in history.

So, there you have it. I predict that the high priced scrap metal bubble is beginning to leak and will soon burst. What to do? Well, one is to get rid of your scrap sooner than later. Another is to, as much as possible, deal in things that can be reused. The artificially high scrap prices has meant that a lot of good useful stuff has been crushed, shredded and melted rather than reused. As a society we can't afford to dispose of useful things much longer.

Love to hear your thoughts on this.

Mike

Is How to Make Money in the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business right for you?

2012-01-05T21:33:00.000-08:00

Every once in awhile. I get a request for a refund only hours (sometimes minutes) after someone has purchased the ebook. Usually the story goes something like - This is just your story and not... (fill in the blank). Well, this is true. How to Make Money in the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business is my story. I wonder, "how could it be anything else?" All I know, all that has gotten me from reading that little surplus and salvage book in the early 1980s and saying "I can do that" to now is my story.

Many purchasers of the ebook have been inspired and are learning the business and are having varying degrees of success - some are doing very very well in a short period of time.

I try to be very clear on the sales page that the ebook is not a blue print, not a step-by-step plan to recycling and salvage riches or anything like that. Rather it is the story of my successes and failures over 30 years in the business. I don't profess to be a gigantic success. In fact, I'm still mostly a one person operation, but I have over the years made a lot of money, learned a lot and have ended up quite well.

My hope in writing the ebook was that you could learn from my failures, avoid them and capitalize on my successes getting up to speed much faster than I did.

I certainly don't make a ton of money off of the ebook. In fact my real payment is in the satisfaction I get when someone emails me and tells me about their successes. I also learn from folks who have really gone for it and succeeded in new areas.

So, to reiterate what is on the sales page:

If you are looking for:

A blueprint that you can follow step by step with little or no creative action on your part.
A business that takes little to no effort - a business made for lazy people.
A business that will make you rich overnight.

Then this is not for you. All I can do is wish you good luck in finding something that fits.But, if you:

Are not afraid of hard work.
Can see my story as just that "my story" not a blueprint, not a step-by-step plan (unfortunately internet and get-rich schemes have convinced many that these something-for-almost-nothing schemes are real - come on!), but an opportunity to be inspired by my successes and learn from my mistakes.
Are not afraid to ask me questions.
And you are ready to get real and put all the get-rich-quick pie-in-the-sky make-a-million-with-no-work-and-an-investment-of=little-money behind you.

Then stick with me and read on...I also want to be very clear. The ebook is just the beginning. If you have questions I am always here to answer them as best I can. If I don't have the answer, I'll do my best to find one for you and I'll also ask your question to the growing number of previous purchasers of the ebook. To repeat... the ebook is not an end to itself, it is a beginning. The blog, website and emails to me will be useful to you as long as you need them to be.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Good luck in your endeavors,

Mike

Says I Created a Recycling Monster!

2011-12-27T02:17:00.000-08:00

Here's another inspiring email. I have to say too that it's very gratifying to get these emails from folks and know that I have helped them in some way. Mike B purchased How to Make Money in the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business ebook in October of 2010. In just over a year, Mike has come a long way. Congrats Mike! Here's his email to me. - Mike Meuser

On Mon, Dec 26, 2011 at 1:33 PM, Mike B wrote:
Hello Mike, Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year to you,

I really enjoy all your articles and e-mails I've been getting all year. Thank you and keep up all the great work,
This past year I started my own business doing clean outs, junk removal, and alot of scrapping.

It all started with the scrapping metals, just goin' round town with my truck, on garbage nite, from street to street searching for metals.

I didn't care at first what type or kind of metal, but within time I've became a kinda of a pro, lol
separating my coppers, aluminums, brass, car batteries, p.c towers, air conditioners, etc....

I've learned to separate different metals, take apart appliances for their motors, gutting out air cond for their condensers and copper, circuit boards and other stuff from p.c towers.

Either it came from the street, craigslist, word of mouth, my work, or from friends and family. Learned alot from you Mike, and from other scrappers, and the guys at the recycling yard.

I make my own hours, quote my own prices for jobs, gain lots of useful knowledge, I also found alot of stuff I have resold or auctioned from my clean out jobs. My girl friend also got into it and we enjoy our time together.

You created a recycling monster Mike, and just wanted to say keep up the great work and thank you.

Michael B

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Electronic and Computer Salvage and Recycling: Building a Knowledgebase

2011-12-23T01:47:00.000-08:00

Normally, it seems, this time of the year slows down business-wise, but not so this year. I have an ongoing ad on Craigslist - "Free pickup of used computers, electronics...." Got a call this monday and I'm still hauling the computers in. Two pickup truck and trailer loads a day. These came from a fellow who has collected them over the years hoping to start various computer literacy classes for kids. The deals never worked out so he's finally ready to let go of it all - a small warehouse full.

He was quite happy to have it hauled away for free. I never advertise that I'll buy such and such because I've found that it's not worth the time dealing with someone who thinks their broken 3 year old computer or laptop is still worth quite a bit of money.

In the case of this weeks "big" score, the fellow does have a few things that he'd like to get some cash for. I'm in the position to get all the rest for free and negotiate on the few items he wants to be paid for. I ended up paying $12 for a bunch of wireless goodies and another $20 for a large container full of very old circuit boards. Even if I don't do well on the purchases (but I will), I've retained the good will of my new client. My business RUNS on GOOD WILL and referrals.

Since it has been awhile since I've had this large of a quantity of desktop computers (around 300 total) plus some laptops, commercial servers and even a couple of very old IBM mini computers, I'm going to be doing more research on the latest and best ways to deal with them. As I do, I'll be posting what I find here. I'm hoping that you all too will add to my story by commenting so that we can together build a knowledgebase.

I'll be updating my list of reputable refiners. I'll also be updating my list of collectible and valuable chips, chipsets, back planes, computers and other components that I won't scrap - some are worth WAY more than scrap.

I'd also like to hear from you so that we can build this as a resource by the group for the group. I'd love to hear your stories and adventures in electronics and computer salvage and recycling. Please email me with your stories and questions. Or, even better, post them here as a comment to this post.

Thanks and Happy Salvaging in 2012

Mike

Thrift Store Electronic Scrap Jackpot

2011-12-15T01:10:00.000-08:00

Here's another email from a go-getter. Linda M bought the eBook just a few months ago and has had one success after another. She has allowed me to post her message here. We both hope that what she has learned and done will inspire you.
--------------------------

December 14, 2011

HI again, I hit the jackpot today. You just need to look around like you said. Possibilities are endless.

In between jobs I stopped at a local thrift store. This store sells donated items to benefit a local shelter. I asked the cashier what they do with their old/broken electronics. She said, "we were just discussing that this morning" and went to get her manager. The manager said sure I have a ton of stuff for you, can you come back later today? Of course I could!

We loaded the pickup with tons of old electronics. The best part - the manager said I could come every week and she would fill my truck up. Oh my word, I think I'm dreaming. Someone pinch me!!

Wow, it so totally pays to ask. You just never know what you will get. Last week I stopped in a storage facility and gave them my card. The man went to the back room and came out with a working Black and Decker drill. He just lost the cord. Sweet!

I love this!!!!!

Linda M, Michigan

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Salvage and Recycling Success Story

2011-12-15T00:50:00.000-08:00

The following is an email from a young woman who purchased the eBook in October. I include it here hoping that it will inspire those of you who have purchsed the eBook but can't quite get going yet and also to encourage those that have not yet purchased the eBook to do so and get out there and begin making some money. My responses to LM are in italics.

On Fri, Dec 2, 2011 at 10:29 AM, LM wrote:

HI again, I’ve been working on a few things and had a progress report and some more questions, if you don’t mind. ;)

Glad to hear from you! I'm amazed that very few people actually correspond with me at all after buying the ebook. It's good to hear from someone who has actually gotten something out of it.

I got a truck. It’s a Dakota. It was listed for $1200 but had been sitting. I got it for $700 because I noticed it was leaking gas and I knew it need lots of work. I put $700 worth of repairs and it runs like a top. And when I’m looking to upgrade I know I could re-sell and make more because it only has 75,000 miles and I cleaned it up nice.

What a great deal!

I got my first load of electronics free from a computer place. 35 each monitors and cases. I scraped the cases and metal and got $150 right off. I have the motherboards and PCI cards set aside for a place I found that buys them. I’m waiting for a large enough amount to make it worth my while. I found a local place that will take monitors for free after I scrap out the copper. I just have to drop them off. I’m pretty excited. My dad is helping me out with the dismantling because I still work and can only do this on nights and weekends.

Amazing. You are really going for it.

I’ve been reading online forums and such to learn how to get the best out of the scrap I get. I’ve come up with a few questions maybe you could answer?

Sure.

Everyone says they leave their business card. That’s cool and I can make one up without a problem. I’m stuck on the wording. I’m thinking my name and Salvage/Recycling and contact info. Do you think that would be enough? They can always contact me for more correct? Should I put more like ‘free pickup’ or something to get their attention?

I say almost exactly what you have. Just my name on one line and the Free PIckup of Salvage and Recyclables on the next. I'm careful to never do or say "hauling" because people tend to see haulers as something different and I don't want to be put in the category of hauling trash for pay.

Lots of people talk about putting up flyers. Do you find this works? Do you use several different flyers advertising different things?

I use simple flyers at grocery stores and other places in towns nearby. I keep it simple using the same text as on the card.

I recently found a post about asking the local auto repair and parts places if I could put a plastic drum there for them to dump their old wires and parts into for me to pickup rather than them putting the stuff in the dumpster. Have you done anything like that? I’m thinking you’d need to label the drum with your business name or whatever but it wouldn’t hurt to ask right?

That's a very good idea. I do keep in touch with several different businesses for their scrap - auto repair, auto supply, hardware, thrift, etc. Usually not enough around here to warrant dedicating a barrel, but sounds like it will work for you.

BTW I just scored dozens of used steel barrels from an auto repair place. Enough oil left in them to do changes for my cars and trucks for years to come. I'm using them for passive solar on side of my home and inside a greenhouse. This might be a free source of barrels for you to use for your clients. You would have to cut the tops off though.

I liked your post about the free wood. I live in an apt so that wouldn’t work for me but I know people who do burn so I’m going to look into that.

I really appreciate your information. I probably told you I am a website designer by trade. I’d be more than happy to make you a cool banner or header for your Blog for free to say thanks for your useful input. If you ever want to update it that is. J

I'd love that if you have the time.

A favor. This email is a real inspiration to me. It's great to find out I'm actually helping someone. Can I post this email on the blog? I'll just use your initials, not your name. Let me know because I think it would help inspire others to get going.

Well I’m off to meet with a client so I’ll talk with you again later.

Thanks so much!
LM

You're doing great. Hope you do well enough to go at it full time soon. You're on your way.

Mike

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$600 Worth of Saleable Items PLUS 80+ Quarts of New Motor Oil Free

2011-11-10T00:07:00.000-08:00

Hi - I've been looking around for more 55 gallon steel oil drums. I use them to sort various metals and electronic scrap. I was looking this time for some that had recently had liquid in them and still had the tops and plugs because I had found a source for several hundred gallons of biodiesel and needed a good way to store it.

I checked Craigslist but there was no one near and the folks who had them in a (100 mile away) major metropolitan area wanted $20 each for them.

I called around to the local gas and oil companies and found one company that would give me two and another one who turned me on to a race car driver that would give me four.

Today I went to collect the two and the guy told me that he'd really like to hang onto them but he knew of another place in town, an auto shop, that had dozens of nearly new sealed drums. They bought oil for oil changes in bulk and the supplier would not take the empty drums back. I asked the fellow if he'd call ahead for me so that I was expected.

I drove a cross town (tiny town of 1500 folks) and found the shop. The owner showed me a large side yard with dozens of like new drums stacked on their sides so they wouldn't rust or get water inside.

I was able to load 8 in my Nissan pickup and another 8 on my little 4x8 trailer. Tomorrow I'll go back for more. Should be about 40 drums in all.

Unexpected bonus was that each one has 2 to 3 quarts of brand new oil in the bottom. Either 15w-50 or 5w-30 - Napa Premium brand. The pumps they use in the barrels don't quite reach the bottom. Fortunately, once they've pumped all they can they put the plug back in and store them on their side. That way none leaks out and no water gets in - Brand new motor oil for free!

Around here motor oil goes for anywhere from $4 to $6 per quart. I'm going to keep the oil. I figure at the low end, I've saved myself purchasing 80 quarts of oil for $320! Also, I'll sell off most of the drums for $10 to $20 - approximate total of $300 to $600. Not bad for 6 hours of work total and about $15 in gas.

BTW - I'll be sure to tell them to call me when they have more and I'll also check around town for more. The more I look at them, the more uses I can think of for them. When I pickup the last load tomorrow, I'll bring a couple of pizzas as a way of thanking the shop folks. I'll also go by the gas and oil place and bring them something as well or at least, ask them what I should keep my eye out for as I go about my salvage and recycling business.

There's always something new around every corner. Just gotta keep being out there and keep talking to folks and you'll find them. Some of the things may not be as glamorous as electronic recycling for gold, etc, but they pay as well.

Good Luck

Mike

PS - I'll post some photos in a day or two.

Resources for the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business
How to Make Money in the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business

Free Firwood For Your Own Use and Sale or Trade to Others

2011-10-20T04:02:00.000-07:00

Last winter I switched to wood heat after seeing how expensive one month of heating oil cost. This year the heating oil is $1 MORE than it was last year so I've been keeping an eye out for firewood all year long.

In my last post I discussed how to get free or cheap wood stoves so you can check it if you want to add this to the sort of things you salvage and recycle.

I'm lucky in that I live in a rural Western county and I am able to collect dead or fallen trees from nearby National Forest lands. Over the Spring and Summer my wife and I did haul in around 5 cords of cedar, pine and fir plus a small amount of oak. The cost for the permits here is $10 per cord. A cord, for those who don't know, is a stack of split firewood 4 feet by 8 feet by 4 feet or 128 cubic feet. At my elevation in the Sierra Cascades most folks burn around 5 cords per year.

As I did my salvage work I always had my eye out for firewood. Almost everywhere folks have trees fall down and evey time I see one, I stop and ask for it. Most of the time the folks say yes take it away or, if they burn wood themselves, I offer to split it with them if I do all the cutting into rounds (they split). I've gotten quite a bit of wood this way.

Another way I've gotten firewood is as a byproduct of my recent building salvage for used lumber. I've ended up with quite a pile of broken, warped and short pieces of lumber that makes great firewood and kindling.

Also, recently, I did a gigantic cleanup of all sorts of miscellaneous material from an estate sale. There were several acres of forest and as I made my rounds picking up various things I noted many downed trees. Near the end when it was clear to the folks that I would be doing what I said and take everything, I asked if I could take the downed trees if there was time. They agreed so I made sure I had time to do so. My last 3 truck and trailer loads was all nice dry firewood logs. I cut to a length that I could handle myself to save time and then cut into rounds and split at home.

So now I've got about 10 cords of dry firewood. 4 or 5 for myself and the rest for the following year or to trade for something else I can sell or use myself.

Good Luck

Recycling Secrets

Free and Cheap Wood Stove Recycling and Reuse

2011-10-20T03:43:00.000-07:00

Hi - I should have told you about this a few months ago, but I've been so busy with my own salvage work I've been a bit slow on the posts. I'll try to post more frequently.

At any rate, it looks like it's going to be a long cold winter in many parts of the U.S. Heating fuel prices are very high. Around here heating oil is $1 a gallon more than it was last year - same with propane. Natural gas is higher as well.

At the same time, scrap iron prices are high. I've seen many loads waiting in lines at the scrap yards with wood stoves in them. Sure a 300 pound woodstove is worth $30 or $40 in scrap but it is worth so much more as a working wood stove.

Over the last months I've picked up 6 wood stoves. Two were free, one I paid $60 for and the other two I bought for scrap prices off of trucks on their way to the scrap yard. The free ones I picked up with a wanted listing in Craigslist. Seems that once someone remodels and changes heating modes or upgrades their wood stove the old one often ends up in the back yard or garage. They're too heavy for most folks to handle, but they can be handled quite easily by one person.

I can handle them and I'm 66 years old. Any stove that I've run into I can tip on its side onto a 4 wheel dolly. Then it's quite easy to roll it onto my Harbor Freight tilt bed trailer.

With heating costs so high, woodstoves are coming back in vogue and there's a ready market for them. The last free one I got is a really nice LOPI. It retails for $1800. This one was in a back yard and the door and air control were all frozen up and it was very rusty. Some soaking with WD-40 and some high heat paint was all it took to get it working properly. As I type this I'm looking across my living room at the flames through the glass door of this little LOPI gem.

The other 5 plus the one I replaced with the LOPI are sold or will be sold soon. Depending on the year and model I can get anywhere from $250 to $1000 for a wood stove and I haven't run into one that I couldn't refurbish for $25 or less. Just be sure to stick to the welded steel plate ones. Some of the older cast iron types leak and/or have cracks.

So, try running a wanted ad in your local Craigslist, tell people you deal with, keep an eye out for old stoves in yards. If you start looking for them, you'll find them.

I'm still hunting for more and will continue to do so all year as I believe good used wood stoves is a growing market.

Good Luck

Mike
How to Make Money in the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business

Estate Sale Cleanups Equal Big Profits

2011-10-18T02:10:00.000-07:00

There never seems to be an end to new opportunities in this business. Recently a friend came over and said "you gotta get over there." He had gone to an estate sale the previous weekend and went back the Monday after to pickup a few things he had purchased. The people had 3 days left to dispose of all the stuff that didn't sell. So my friend told them about me. I drove over right away and was amazed - lumber of all sorts, plumbing and electrical supplies, firewood, large timbers, an old railroad trestle in parts, irrigation pipe and tubing, drip systems, fencing, roofing, gas cans full of gas, railroad rails... on and on. As usual, I said "I can do it."

I did "do it." Working 20 hours a day, I made 14 trips with my pickup and 12 foot trailer (I borrowed the trailer from a friend). Retail value of what I collected has to be in the $20,000 range. I'll end up using about 1/2 of it and expect to sell the rest for around $5,000 cash or similar value in trade for things I need or can sell.

The above is not that unusual for me although I'd never cleaned up an estate sale before. I've been in this community for just a bit over a year and already folks are seeing me as the "salvage guy." it's all word of mouth and reputation. Do a great job for someone and they'll find more deals for you.

Have You Had Problems Printing Ebook?

2011-09-04T21:37:00.000-07:00

Hi - I've sold hundreds of copies of the ebook How to Make Money in the Home Based
Salvage and Recycling Business. Today, for the first time, a new purchaser said that he was unable to print it out. This is the first I have heard of this. I checked the security settings and though editing is not allowed, printing is allowed. I'm wondering if any of you have had trouble printing the ebook and, if you have, how you worked around it. Thanks in advance.

Mike

How I Afford to Bid on Scrap Metal, Electronic Scrap and Salvage Material

2011-08-14T16:46:00.000-07:00

Word-Of-Mouth and Bootstrapping are Keys to Success

Recently a fellow emailed me asking how I could afford to bid on electronic and telecommunication scrap. The short answer is that I did some creative bootstrapping. Here are more details.

This fellow was referring to a discussion in my eBook, How to Make Money in the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business. In the eBook I describe my adventures in electronic salvage, scrap metal and deconstruction.

First off, there's bidding and then there's auctions. Starting off I had no cash at all so auctions were out of the question. Even now I stay away from auctions because things usually get bid up way too high and the lots are often too large. In my experience the ones who bid and win have seemingly unlimited cash and they "flip" things almost immediately. Even if they only gain 10% in a couple of days, 10% of say, $10,000, is $1000 profit - not bad pay. Problem is most of us, including me, don't have that sort of cash laying around.

So, I bid on things. Through word-of-mouth I hear about things that are available. Often they are free. If not, I'm usually asked how much I pay, I "bid" and if acceptable, I get the material. Unless my bid is a small amount I explain to the seller that I need X number of days to pay after I pickup the goods. If this is unacceptable, I go on my merry way looking for the right deal that fits my circumstances and finances.

I've found over the years that word-of-mouth referrals is gold. I don't spin my wheels attending auctions, watching craigslist and freecycle listings and the like. Just too time consuming for the meager return. One of my best deals ever came directly from sitting in a rural coffee shop each morning and getting to know the folks who come in. One thing led to another and I ended up with a year's worth of very profitable electronic salvage work.

Recent examples include a word of mouth referral to a person wanting a 100 year old house torn down. I got the call and ended up with 1000s of board feet of beautiful old growth lumber for free. I'm using some and selling the rest.

Another example is a call I got about an old farm. I could have whatever I wanted for free. Note that I said, "have whatever I wanted." In this case, if I had to take all of it, I would have passed or offered a small amount for the stuff I wanted - just too much junk I didn't want so this worked out well. In a couple of hours I collected about 300 pounds of used aluminum roofing, some corrugated steel roofing in very good shape, about 200 pounds of copper wire, a working wood lathe, riding lawnmower, all sorts of miscellaneous tools, hardware, plumbing and electrical supplies, fencing material... Enough to load my Nissan pickup and 8 foot trailer to the brim.

My contact is going to get in touch with the absentee owner of the farm to see if I can have other items as well that he was unsure of at the time. Things I have my eye on are a canoe, a small Kubota diesel tractor (needs work), several 100 feet of irrigation pipe, doors in casings, and the old barn itself. He's pretty sure these are unwanted items as well. I'll keep my fingers crossed :)

A word about Craigslist - I said above that I don't spin my wheels searching craigslist all the time. I've found it to be mostly too unprofitable, but once in awhile it pays off. I check maybe once every couple of weeks. This morning I saw a listing for a very nice woodstove fireplace insert with variable speed blower. I called and found it was just a couple of years old. The folks bought the house with it in it and decided to heat with propane. Woodstoves are too heavy for most people to move around and they just want them out of there - thus free! If you run into these, ask too if they have any firewood. Most people seem to forget this. This morning if I hadn't asked, I would have missed out on a cord of nicely seasoned oak firewood.

A tip - Woodstoves typically way between 250 and 350 pounds. I can load and unload these woodstoves myself (and I'm 65 years old) using the following method. I have a small 8 foot utility trailer I bought as a kit from Harbor Freight. It's the heavy duty 5 lug model with a tilting bed. I can easily tilt the stove up on end and flip it back down on a 4 wheel dolly. Then I roll it to the edge of tilted down bed of the trailer and roll it on. You'll need a small piece of heavy plywood to fill the gap between the edge of the trailer and the ground - a steel plate works even better. Once on the trailer it's relatively easy to roll it in place and take it off the dolly.

In my pessimistic view of the economy, I think woodstoves and firewood are going to be gold (among other things). I may keep this one and use it. Whichever extra one I end up with, I'll probably trade it for a wood splitter or something else useful.

You can learn more about my experience bootstrapping myself into the home based salvage and recycling business here.

H.R. 2396 Funding Grants for Electronic Recycling Research and Development

2011-08-10T00:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I told you about H.R. 2284, The Responsible Electronics Recycling Act and how it would prevent the export of non-functional or shredded electronic scrap to developing countries. I said that this should be passed because it would result in more U.S. based jobs and it would also mean less material containing toxics being sent to places that have lower environmental and labor protection standards than the U.S. One thing that I did not mention is that it also means more opportunities for U.S. based electronics recycling entrepreneurs.

There's another bill in the works, H.R. 2396, Electronic Device Recycling Research and Development Act, that will mean even more opportunities for us in the U.S. Its purpose is:

To authorize the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to award grants for electronic device recycling research, development, and demonstration projects, and for other purposes.

Take a look at both H.R. 2284 and H.R. 2396. if you feel like I do, urge your representative to vote for it.

View How to Make Money in the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business here.

HR 2284 The Responsible Electronics Recycling Act - The Right Thing To Do

2011-08-09T05:25:00.000-07:00

H.R. 2284, The Responsible Electronics Recycling Act, would prevent the export of non-functional or shredded electronic scrap to developing countries. This is an important bill and one that I think should be passed. For starters, it would result in more U.S. based jobs and it would also mean less material containing toxics being sent to places that have lower environmental and labor protection standards than the U.S.

Back when I was doing a large scale electronic salvage project, I sold large amounts of scrap to a Taiwan based company. I was unaware at the time, the effect that material was having overseas. It wasn't until several years later that I read Bill Moyers' Global Dumping Ground: The International Traffic in Hazardous Waste that I realized what I had done. In fact, the fellow I sold my scrap to is mentioned in the book. I'm not sure if the environmental and human abuse overseas is as bad now as it was then, but I'm quite sure that conditions are below U.S. standards.

You might take a look at H.R. 2284 and if you feel like I do, urge your representative to vote for it.

View How to Make Money in the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business here.

Deconstruction and Used Lumber: Succeeding in the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business: Techniques and Ideas - Part 2

2011-06-14T12:07:00.000-07:00

In Part 1 I discussed how I was able to get this old house to tear down. This is the continuing story. I only work at it 2-3 hours per day. For those few hours I always come home with at least $150 to $250 worth of lumber at retail value. Some will end up being worth less and some more. Much of the lumber is around 100 years old. Most is old growth and much is 1/4 sawn as well.

It was a real struggle to get the roofing planks off. They were not only covered with many layers of composition roofing, but shiplapped as well. With shiplap, you have to start at the top and work your way down.

I gambled and decided to pull down the ends of the roof hoping I wouldn't break too much lumber. My gamble paid off.

I'll be adding more photos and video as the project proceeds. I expect to end up with many thousands worth of lumber, lumber that you can't even find in yards today.

Succeeding in the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business: Techniques and Ideas - Old School and New School, Part 1

2011-06-07T01:29:00.000-07:00

Recently a fellow contacted me and said that my eBook on salvage and recycling was a great autobiography but was not relevant. His example for me to follow was to check Craigslist and type in "junk" and "scrap" and I would see that everyone is in the salvage and recycling business. I responded telling him that the techniques I used for obtaining, working with, reusing and selling salvage are very relevant and that I use them most everyday. I also told him that I would appreciate any tips he could offer in the way of relevant ideas. Once I hear, I'll pass them on to you all.

Here's an example. Recently I blogged about a house that I am in the midst of deconstructing. I didn't get it by watching the craigslist listings and hoping that I was the first one to respond and then hoping that if I was, it would still be there when I got there. I have tried this method a few times and in my experience using craigslist and other online tools works at times, but also can be a real time waster.

In this case, I had done what I always do - hand out business cards, put flyers on bulletin boards and small ads in local papers. Several months ago I purchased some oak flooring from a fellow - he had seen my flyer at the local market. Later he told a friend about me, we connected and I am now tearing down this great old cabin. He said that he had been trying for months to find someone to give it to. Did he list on craigslist? No - he doesn't use a computer. I find that there are a whole lot of people out there that are still "old school" and depend on what they read and who they talk to for the information they need - they don't even think much about the internet. Also, some just don't want the hassle of strangers calling them, coming to their place...

I do think that craigslist can be a good way to sell material and I've done some of that successfully, but more often, word of mouth has worked for me and folks tell other folks about me and before long the material is sold - sometimes before I even have it torn down and available for sale.

I've included some photos of this project that I began on May 4, 2011. I only work it 10 or 12 hours per week. Early on I removed the aluminum roofing, wiring, brass... and found other recyclables around the property. I shopped this around at scrap metal yards and was able to sell the scrap for $409. More than enough to pay for a couple of runs to the dumps, gas, lunches etc.

Over time I'll go into the scrap metal part of it in more detail telling how I deal with dealers, find honest ones, sort my metals for the best price.

Also, in time, I'll discuss the tools and techniques I use in deconstruction, how I store my wood, how to price it and more.

This building is 20x25 feet. The inside walls, outside walls, roof and ceiling are all old growth ship lap lumber - much is premium 1/4 sawn. I figure, even at today's low prices for lumber, I'll net out at about $4,000 in what the same amount of wood would cost me at retail. If I were to sell, some of this would bring more than retail, some less. More about this later.

For now, enjoy the photos and remember to check out my eBook, How to Make Money in the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business. It's full of tips and ideas that I use all the time to succeed in this business. Just one good idea is worth more than the price of the eBook.

Continued in Part 2.

How I Get the Material I Need and Make Money Tearing Down Old Houses

2011-05-04T02:26:00.000-07:00

Last week a friend of a friend told me about an old house that the owner wants torn down. I went over and took a look. It's small - about 24 feet by 18 feet - single story home. It was built back in the 1930s and is in very poor shape, but the lumber is good.

I did some figuring on its value - the cost for materials at today's prices and came up with the following:

The house is all douglas fir. It has shiplap siding that can be used as is or planed. The subfloor, ceiling and inside walls are all solid 1x12. It's a stick frame house so there are lots of 2x4 in walls and roof. There are 2x8 floor joists and the roof is solid sheathed in 1x12 lumber. All in all I come up with about 4400 board feet - today's value on the West Coast is about $1600.
I actually want to use quite a bit of it to enlarge my shop at home so I'll be using a sawzall and taking portions of walls intact, but if I were to tear down the entire building piece by piece, I figure one person could do it in 4-5 days. 2 good workers could do it in 2-3 days. So, if I were to hire labor to do it, I'd be looking at about $800 -$1,000 cost for lumber valued at $1600. Note though that this is used lumber, but also of much better quality than is available today. If I tore it down myself, the cash out of pocket would be much less.
The house has heavy corrugated aluminum roofing over the solid wood sheathing. Scrap value of this is about $200. The wiring is the old style single wires on posts - very easy to strip - worth about $150 - $250.
And then there are the fixtures, switches, hardware, windows, doors... worth many hundreds of dollars.

The way I figure it - it's a good money maker. Most likely enough in scrap metals and miscellaneous non-lumber items to pay the labor costs so the lumber is basically free and can be used (what I'll do with most) and/or sold quite readily. I could price it for about 25% less than market value and it would sell quite quickly - in these times, everyone is looking for a bargain!

So, check out your friends, your town, start looking around. I'm in a very lightly populated county of only 20,000 people and I find more deals like this than I can handle - mainly just through word of mouth.

If you want to learn more about this and how I got into and stay in the salvage and recycling business, check out RecyclingSecrets.com and my ebook, How to Make Money in the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business.

Best of Luck

Mike

How I Get Computer and Electronic Scrap Free and Make Good Money With It

2011-04-30T02:56:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been focusing most of my salvage and recycling business on building materials and parts for alternative energy systems. I use a lot of this at my own home and sell some to earn a living. But, given the soaring prices of gold, silver, platinum and other non-precious metals, I've recently gotten back into electronics and computer salvage and recycling.

Here's what I'm doing

I live in a rural area so I'm:

Running ads on Craigslist telling folks that I'll pickup used computers, monitors, printers, electronic games, cell phones -- anything electronic for free. People are more than willing to give these things away in most regions of the country because they usually have to transport these things to recycling centers and then PAY to recycle them. Since I'm in a rural area, I've setup scheduled pickup days so I don't burn too much gas. I have a small Nissan pickup that normally does the job and if I luck into more, I have a small 8 foot trailer that I build from a Harbor Freight kit.
I've also negotiated relationships with recycling centers in most of the towns and where there are no recycling centers, I've made a deal with a local market to allow folks to drop off their electronic stuff there so I can pickup.
Recently I stopped at my local thrift store and there were two old 60s vintage IBM workstations and a mini-computer. These early computers have many times the thickness of gold plate on fingers and backplanes compared to newer computers. These were dumped at their back door when they were closed. They figured, rightly, that they had little chance of selling them and were very happy that I would take them away right then. So, I stop at all the thrift stores and leave them a flyer and cards so they know who to call when they get too many computers and the like - and they get a lot.
I also post flyers on any bulletin board I can find and leave a few at each yard sale I visit.
Freecycle works out quite well. I post wanted ads frequently and always get a good response. I also place ads in my local free giveaway classified newspapers. they're cheap and a lot of people read them from end to end.
Magnetic signs on the doors of your truck or van help as well.

How I Make Money With All This Electronic Stuff

I've found that a lot of the computers are fairly new and have been replaced because they've gotten slow, crashed or just don't run right. Frequently the problem can be fixed by simply running a chkdsk and defragging the hard drive. Next step is to check for viruses, spyware and malware. I did find it difficult to get really good software and information about viruses, spyware, malware and their removal until I found a really good manual that explains it all plus provides the software to do it right. It's saved me a lot of money and precious time.

Doing these two things to the recent computers gets them running good again. Good enough to sell easily for $100 to $300 depending on what it is. I usually charge around 20% of what stores charge for a comparable computer. I also mix and match, taking parts from two to make one good computer and the like.

The older computers and ones that aren't reusable I scrap out for precious metals and parts. It's been awhile since I've dealt with a refiner so I'm still checking around. I used to get a very good deal from Cascade Refining in Salt Lake City, Utah, but before I use them again, I'll send a small test quantity of boards and connectors and see how it comes out. Some folks also sell this stuff on eBay, but for now, I'll stay away from that. It is an option though if you are so inclined. I've learned from previous experience that it does not pay me to refine myself - too dangerous and time consuming.

As I find out more about legitimate buyers of parts, details of amounts of precious and other metals in various computers and components and refiners, I'll post here so you can learn about them as well.

Complimentary Money Maker

I had trouble finding really good software that would really help getting a slow, virus infected computer going again. I finally found a really good manual about it and good software as well. Actually it is an entire business plan for making a good living just removing viruses and malware for people. I'm doing this on the side for the people who haven't yet bought a new computer and are trying to keep their old one going. Check out this spyware and virus removal manual and software for yourself. I found that it is well worth the money.

Check here, if you'd like to learn more about my decades in the home based salvage and recycling business.

Best of Luck

Mike MeuserRecyclingSecrets.com

How to Make $15 to $50 and More With Your Pickup or Van

2011-04-24T02:24:00.000-07:00

This is not a pie-in-the-sky get-rich-quick-scheme. As a recycling and salvage business person I have hauled a large variety of stuff and made good money at it. The information in the following eBook can help you to do the same. If you are interested in starting a home based business that pays good and requires little startup cash or equipment, this may be just the opportunity you need. I've found that just one good idea is worth way more than the purchase price AND if it doesn't work for you, you get your money back - no questions asked. Can't beat that.

Learn more about making $15 to $50 per hour with your van or pickup

Heavy Storms, Extreme Weather and Aluminum Salvage and Recycling Opportunities for the Home Based Recycler

2011-03-03T14:13:00.000-08:00

March 3, 2011

The other day I received the following email:

"Hi Mike, there were heavy storms through here this week and I am assuming that there is a lot of aluminum to be scrapped. Should I contact any individual, residential agent? Are some better than others? Are any buyers better than others? I also need to know, for the aluminum scrapping what tools do I need? What about transportation? I am assuming that my HHR is too small. True? Do I need a full-sized truck? Something smaller? I really need your help getting started."

My response:

Hi - I'm not sure what an HHR is, but a small truck and/or small trailer will work fine for hauling aluminum scrap - it's relatvely light compared to iron.

The aluminum sheet used on trailers and awnings is normally approximately 4' by 8 or 10'. It is often dirty, meaning that it has screws and caulking on the edges. To get the best price it must be cleaned. Simple hand tools do the job. I use battery powered drills with various attachments to remove screws and pliers and utility knives for the caulk, although you can sell it dirty but you'll get much less per pound...

Click here for complete article

Welcome to All of You New Folks Who Have Purchased the Salvage & Recycling Ebook

2011-02-07T21:00:00.000-08:00

Hi - It looks like we've all gotten past the holidays and are ready to go to work. Welcome to all the new folks that have purchased the eBook in 2011. I'm very gratified with the response.

Recall that the eBook is just the beginning. It is a summary of what has worked for me in the Salvage and Recycling business. Many of the ways I found material, disposed of material and marketed myself will work for you, but you may need more help. I'm here to provide just that. There is no general blueprint or step-by-step plan that would fit your specific needs, skills, expertise or locale. So, I look forward to hearing from you, answering your questions and help you devise a specific plan that will work for you.

Note that if I think your questions or comments and my answers will be of interest to others, I'll be posting them on the blog being sure, of course, to not reveal your email, identity or location. If you do not want me to do this, please be sure to let me know.

Also, when corresponding with me, be sure to send your messages from the same email account that you used when you purchased the eBook. Otherwise I may never see your message and we don't want that to happen.

These are hard times and I worry that they may get harder. It's a good time to be in this business.

Best of luck to you and thanks again for putting your trust in me.

Mike
RecyclingSecrets.com
How to Make Money in the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business

Financial Crisis Inquiry Report Downloads Now Available

2011-01-28T00:32:00.000-08:00

This should be of interest:

We're all impacted by recent economic events and the recession that we're now in. January 27, 2011 the FCIC released the Financial Crisis Inquiry Report to the public. I have made it available in Acrobat PDF format for you to download. In the ensuing days and weeks I will be adding many more reports, hearings, testimonies, videos, maps, regional impacts and related materials.

Download the Financial Crisis Inquiry Report

Getting into Home Based Salvage & Recycling with Little Cash, Promoting Your Businss...

2011-01-23T19:33:00.000-08:00

Hi - Just a headsup. Wondering how to get started in salvage and recycling with little cash? How to promote your business? I've been working on an article over the weekend. Includes information about the above plus how a local website may help you. I'll post a message here when it is completed.

Best to you in your endeavors

Mike
Recycling Secrets
How to Make Money in the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business

Download How to Make Money in the Salvage and Recycling Business Now

2011-01-19T02:39:00.000-08:00

The revised eBook is available for download to all purchasers.

Click here and enter your username and password to download the revised 2011 eBook.

If you have not yet purchased How to Make Money in the Salvage and Recycling Business, you can learn more about it here.

Revised Home Based Salvage & Recycling Business Manual Available

2011-01-17T13:52:00.000-08:00

Hello - If you previously purchased a copy of the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business Manual I'll be sending you a revised version by midnight tonight. If you do not receive it, please email me using the email address you entered when you purchased the ebook and I'll make sure you get it. A link will also be posted on the website.

Mike

Follow Recycling Secrets on Twitter

Recycling Secrets

Advice on Starting Small in the Salvage and Recycling Business

2011-01-14T03:56:00.000-08:00

A recent message that I think is of interest.

Mike, I am very interested in the salvage business but I want to start small and put off getting involved in heavy metals, construction waste, and goods that are space and labor intensive. What do you recommend?

My response:

Hi ____ - One of the first things I did was go around to local businesses and see what sort of things they might be interested in. I found a rebuilder of valves - water, oil, gas, etc. - who would buy old valves from me right away.

Also in winter, keeping in touch with insurance agents helps. I've gotten tons of free aluminum from torn up awnings and mobile home porches. The aluminum is easily scrapped - no storage involved.

When I've done deconstruction I've almost always been able to sell the stuff before I took the building apart so no space required there and there are all sorts of sizes of buildings.

The electronics end is going to take space and time to sort, determine what's of value, etc. so probably not best to begin with if you don't have the space to work on stuff. Good winter time work though.

Every community is different. I'd just get your name out there as THE salvage guy and see what happens. I'd stay away from beccoming the hauling guy. That's a different deal and folks will look at you differently if you charge to haul stuff away. Put up flyers, cheap ads, and talk to folks and then pick and choose.

I've run into barrels full of valves at times that I could buy at pennies on the dollars that I would get and turn them over the same day.

Some really big things like a water tank on an 80 foot tower I got for free and resold in a few days and never ever touched it. you just never know.

More examples in the manual.

Good luck and keep me posted on your progress.

Mike
www.RecyclingSecrets.com

Rebuilding Cutting Torches - Low Cost Kits

2011-01-04T01:35:00.000-08:00

I was thinking more about cutting torches. New torches can be quite costly. Used ones go for much less, but often it is not easy to test them out beforehand. I just did a quick check and rebuild kits are quite reasonable. So, if you can get a name brand torch cheap and have to rebuild it, you'll still be in good shape. Here's one link that I found for Victor rebuild kits. Other manufacturers also sell kits.

Hammerweld.com

Good luck and keep the questions coming!

Mike
Recycling Secrets

About Cutting Torches, Scrap Autos and Farm Equipment

2011-01-04T00:54:00.000-08:00

From a recent ebook purchaser and member:

Dear Mike

Thanks for the insightful manual, its really helpful.

I in a process of starting a scrap metal business. I want to start by salvaging metal from old cars, farm machinery/equipment and other smaller things. My worry is that my truck is small so I will need to cut scrap metal into manageable pieces that will fit into the truck and transport it to recycling centres.

I would like to know what cutting tools I may need? I know there are heavy duty and light duty cutting torches. What should I be careful of or look out for when I buy these? I want to start buying used ones, I've seen people are selling them online here.

I will appreciate your advice.

Thanks

S B

South Africa

My reply:

Hi - Thanks for the compliments. As to cutting equipment, a small torch works best for me. You don't need to use acetylene - too expensive and don't need the heat. Most any used cutting torch will do - oxygen and propane works just fine. Best to buy one that you can try out first. If you have a welding supply nearby, they may have used ones. Doesn't have to be a very large one at all. Also, individuals often resell cutting torches. Something they thought they would use but never used very much.

As you scrap these items keep an eye out for what might be reuseable and sellable at much higher than scrap prices. Farm machinery parts especially should demand a price quite a bit better than scrap. Also, any farm irrigation equipment - valves, irrigation pipe, pumps and parts - can be quite valuable in any condition.

For large items, you may be able to enlist the help of a short time partner with a larger truck. When I scrapped a bulldozer and tractor, my truck was just barely large enough but I had to hire a crane to lift parts onto the bed. If I had gone to a commercial crane operator the price would have been too much, but I found a local logger who had a crane on his log truck. Ended up trading him small dozer parts for the crane work. Another source of small cranes is the fellows who deliver roofing trusses.

Good luck and keep me posted

Mike
Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business Manual

Plans for buildings, cabins, homes, sheds, greenhouses and more with used lumber

2010-12-26T19:16:00.000-08:00

Early on in the salvage and recycling business I made a good living getting free or very cheap building materials and lumber. You'll find more about deconstruction and lumber and building material and reuse here. And it's gone into in more details in the ebook, Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business Manual.

Now there is a whole bunch of plans that will help guide you in making various stuctures - cabins, homes, barns, greenhouses, etc. - with the lumber and building materials that you collect. Check out the Free Self-Sufficiency Building Plans
for Farm, Ranch & Homestead at ToolsForSurvival.com.

Best of Luck,

Mike

Tons of Gold in Thrown Away and Obsolete Cell Phones

2010-12-13T19:45:00.000-08:00

I mean it - literally TONS of gold in old cell phones and 99% of it has yet to be recovered.

Cell phone and PDA recycling and reuse is truly a little known opportunity with high potential. Very few are doing it and literally billions of dollars worth of gold and other valueable metals are in storage or in landfills. Read on for details.

A 2007 USGS report concludes that in 2005 there was $251,000,000 - yes two hundred and fifty one million dollars worth of gold in the 631,000,000 discarded or obsolete cell phones and this is based on a gold value of $362 per ounce. At today's prices this 20.9 metric tons of gold is worth over $1,000,000,000 - more than one billion dollars and many more cell phones have been retired or are obsolete and discarded.

Read more about the gold in cell phones

Learn How You Can Get Into the Business

Cell phone and PDA recycling and reuse is truly a little known opportunity with high potential.
Scott Andrews has been in the precious metals and electronics recycling business for over 30 years.
In fact, it was one of his early reports that inspired me to get into the business years ago. Cell
phone and PDA recycling is his latest and best opportunity so far.
Scott has really come up with something here that is certainly worth your time to look into.

Take a minute and check out Scott's report on how you can profit in the cell phone recycling business. You'll be glad you did.

Free Home Based Salvage & Recycling Business Manual eBook Holiday Gift

2010-12-08T21:25:00.000-08:00

Hi - I wanted to let you know about a 2 for 1 holiday gift offer. If you purchase a copy of the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business Manual at the regular price, I will send a second copy to anyone that you designate. Once you've ordered simply send me the recipients name, email address, date they should receive the ebook and any message you would like to include and I'll take care of the rest.

If you have already purchsed the ebook I'd like to extend this offer to you too. Just send me the above information and I'll take care of getting the free ebook to them. Members send information here.

Click here now to take advantage of this limited time 2 for 1 holiday gift offer.

Thanks and happy holdays,

Mike

How to Find Salvage and Recycling Material

2010-10-31T09:48:00.000-07:00

Recently a member emailed me asking for any tips for finding salvage and recycling material. He said that in his area all of the accounts were taken. My reply was that early on I had a couple of accounts with metal fabricators, but I found that having accounts just didn't work out. I found myself driving by opportunities and having to pass them up because I had a load and/or a schedule to keep. I realized that I was passing up things that would I could get for free or pennies on the dollar for material from accounts that, at best, I was doubling my money. So it wasn't long before I gave up the accounts.

I understand the desire to get accounts and have a regular dependable income, but, I wasn't ready to settle for a limited income in that way. If I was a different sort of person I could have hired people to do the accounts and build the business that way. But I'm not the managerial type and I knew that wouldn't work out. Once I took account of who I was and the way I operated I did much better.

I see opportunities almost every day in my travels around my home area. I live in a very rural area - a town of less than 500 people. Other towns are spaced out about 20-30 miles apart and none are more than a few thousand, but I see and find things all the time. Here's an example from the other day. A house was being torn down. If I had seen it a few days earlier, I most likely could have torn it down myself and made good money off of the used lumber and material. When I did get there all that was left was large timbers. Most were 4x12 and a couple of 6x14. I knew I could sell them easily for good money. But I also knew that they would save me a lot of money as the main timbers for a new shop I was building.

I went into town and checked at the barber shop and sure enough, the barber knew who owned it and put me in touch. I checked with the owner and he was more than happy to give me the timber if I would also haul off a boat (with 2 motors and trailer) and an old tractor. I jumped at it.

As I was hauling the old tractor down to a heavy equipment dealer. I saw a vacant old metal warehouse. It was about 30 feet by 60 feet long. I put my business card under the door with a note asking about the building. I continued on to the heavy equipment dealer and was happy to accept his offer of $800 for the tractor. On my way back to get the boat I got a call from the owner of the building and he said he wanted to remove the building.

The next day I hired a couple of guys for a week to take the building down. So in an afternoon I had found timbers for my new shop, a boat that with a little work I could use on our local lakes, a tractor that I sold that would cover all my expense of transportation and taking down the building, and a metal shop building to put atop my timbers. A very good day! I could have sold the timbers and building for a couple of thousand at least, but in this instance, I could use them myself.

So... keep your eyes open and get known in the towns in your area. Barbers and small shopkeepers often know what it going on. Leave cards and flyers anywhere and everywhere and you'll be amazed at your success down the road.

Good hunting,

Mike

Recycling Secrets

How to Estimate Gold Plating Thickness and Content

2010-10-27T20:50:00.000-07:00

Here's an excerpt from a very good article:

The board is made over-sized, in order to provide electrical connections to the areas of the board that require plating. When the plating has been done, the "picture frame" is trimmed off with a die.

We used to hire cheap labour to cut off the gold plated areas of the picture frames with tin snips - the good offset type - you can buy them left or right handed. This will reduce the volume and weight considerably and will make the pile much less bulky. I, myself, have filled many barrels with just the gold portions, using this method - it's not so bad - wear leather work gloves. We then stripped the gold in a cement mixer with cyanide/peroxide.

Even if you don't process this yourself, by trimming it, you are putting it into a state that can be sampled and assayed, before having it refined. This is much harder to do with the picture frames, since many of them are different. You might also have a separate barrel for pale looking gold pieces.

If it is true immersion gold, it's worth about $.04 to $.05/square inch, max. Immersion...

Download and Read the Entire Article

Mike
Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business Manual

Revisions to Gold Plate Removal Report

2010-10-27T01:34:00.000-07:00

A very helpful member asked a good question. I found that I skipped through the process a bit too fast. So, if you downloaded the report before about 1:30 AM PST, download it again and you'll get the revised version. Thanks.

Download Free Report: Recovering Gold from Plated Copper or Brass Substrate

2010-10-26T21:46:00.000-07:00

You can now download the free report: Recovering Gold from Plated Copper or Brass Substrate HERE

If you are a member, go to the member website

If you would like to become a member go HERE

Thanks and Best,

Mike

Learn How to Recover Gold from Electronic, Computer and Other Plated Objects

2010-10-17T18:00:00.000-07:00

Hi - Just a note about an upcoming update to the members area. In a day or two you will be able to download information about how I reverse the plating process and remove gold from plated objects. It makes use of only one readily available chemical (NO cyanide or aqua regia) that can be used over and over again. I still highly recommend that you have a refiner do this for you, but I've had a lot of requests for this.

If you are not a member, you can become one by purchasing the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business Manual.

Best regards,

Mike

Home Based Salvage & Recycling Business Manual Feedback

2010-10-14T21:17:00.000-07:00

Hi - I've received excellent feedback from folks who have purchased the eBook. I just want to remind all the purchasers that the eBook is just the beginning. Your purchase entitles you to a free one year membership to the members-only website. Over time I'll be publishing updates, news and resources there. Also, i'm always available to answer questions by email. If you haven't already done so, be sure to sign up for updates.

If you haven't purchased the eBook yet, Check it out.

Thanks to all

Mike

Update: AVG Antivirus 2011 No Longer Blocking Adsense

2010-10-14T20:56:00.001-07:00

Hi - I checked my webpages with the AVG 2011 link scanner turned on today and all seemed well - adsense ads were showing. Later I received and email from AVG saying that they had performed a remote workaround and would fix it permanently in the next update. My hat is off to the folks at AVG engineering. They jumped on this quickly and provided a fix within hours.

How to Sidestep Bogus Internet Marketing Schemes and Create Real Value With Your Home Based Business

2010-10-13T04:05:00.000-07:00

By

Mike Meuser
RecyclingSecrets.com

Given the present economy more and more people are turning to home-based businesses hoping to earn a fulltime income. The internet is full of marketing scams, schemes and ripoffs and folks often jump from one dissapointing opportunity to the next hoping it will be the one. In my home-based businesses I've found that rather than focus on opportunities where the primary focus is on making money, it works best to develop a strategy based on my skills, education, interests and, most important, my passion.

The internet is just full of online business scams, schemes and rip-offs. Just signup on one of the many home based business forums and you'll see what I mean when you get friends, emails, and replies to your posts. Many are there to take advantage of your desperation. The majority seem to be a bunch of amateurs who pose as professionals and try to sell you products and services guaranteeing that you will get rich like them yet they have never sold anything online except more online marketing schemes. Where does it end? Similar to the dotcom bomb and housing bomb, no real value is created. Very few will profit at the expense of the great majority. If you are lucky enough to actually make a living with one of these schemes, is this the way you want to do it? - At the expense of others? That's not the way I do business and I doubt if it is the way you really want to do it either.

How many people who have NO claim to internet fame except to sell internet marketing schemes to others will there be before the bubble bursts? I could see the dotcom bomb coming. I read reports saying that most of the top companies were only shuffling money amongst themselves - no real money was coming in. It was doomed to fail yet I would hear people say, "all I have to do is work at suchandsuch.com for a few years, take my stock options, cash in and retire." NOT! Some I know even cashed in their kids' college savings to buy dotcom stock! If it were only so easy! It wasn't, of course, and most lost a great deal while a few prospered.

Then along comes the real estate boom. Just like dotcom, everyone wanted a piece of the action before it was too late. As the percentage of people who could actually afford to buy a home dropped from 50%+ to less than 10% in some places, few connected the dots. I saw it coming but very few realized that when only a few can buy the inflated value homes, the bubble just has to burst - there's no one left to buy them. And, of course, as we all know, the bubble did burst. While a few got rich, the great majority suffered and will continue to suffer for a long time.

But, don't get me wrong, not all internet marketers are bad. If you step away from the bunch who sell internet marketing strategies to newbies who then in turn sell more internet marketing strategies to newbies and on and on, you find that there are some folks out there who sell amazing products and services. Before I elaborate on this let's talk about creating real value instead of furthering the get rich online marketing schemes that very few will actually benefit from. Here are two examples.

My website MapCruzin.com is devoted to helping people learn GIS mapping. I provide free software, map shapefiles, maps and resources. I also sell a few GIS map shapefiles that I have created. MapCruzin.com was online from 1996 through 2008 before I even thought about making money with the website. My passion drove me to create unique helpful content. In 2008 I began implementing adsense. Since then MapCruzin's revenue has risen from a few hundred dollars per month to several thousand. The ads are extremely well targeted to my audience. I have both a high click through rate on the ads and a high number of pageviews per visitor. This tells me that both my content and the ads are of real value.

I'm now writing an ebook about MapCruzin.com and how I earn a living from it NOT by selling "how to make big money selling online" products, but by providing unique content and real value to people making a living in the real world. It's easy to get drawn into the online-marketing-bubble, but if you do, in time your bubble will burst.

My other website, RecyclingSecrets.com is devoted to helping people bootstrap (as in little or no startup cash) their way into the home based salvage and recycling business. I began in this business in the early 1980s doing deconstruction, metal recycling, electronic and telecommunication salvage and reuse. I've done quite well at this business and I now sell an ebook that chronicles my experience, the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business Manual. The manual is full of real stories about how I bootstrapped my way into the business, provided real value to my community, while earning a very good living. This business is not for everyone - it is not passive income or some scheme that "guarantees" that all you have to do is work a couple of hours a day and sit back and watch the money come in - it takes hard work at times - but it can provide a good and growing income. You can check it out at RecyclingSecrets.com,

It was only after years in the real business of home-based salvage and recycling that I became qualified to write and sell an online product that adds real value to the lives of the purchasers. Similarly, when I do write the ebook about my success monetizing MapCruzin.com, I am qualified to do it because I've spent years writing content, placing ads, blogging, tweeting and doing related things to increase the traffic to and revenue from the website while increasing its value to visitors. Both ebooks provide the purchaser with real value because they are both based on the real world experience of making a living with home-based businesses.

Earlier I mentioned that there are some really good and helpful folks online who can help you to create really excellent information products and market them earning a good living. One I have found that is particularly good is Dr.Mani Sivasubramanian. His excellent ebook, Think, Write and Retire is full of helpful information about developing your niche, writing and marketing your online informational product. More great folk who have inspired and helped me are listed here.

You too have experiences, knowledge, interests and passions that provide you with unique insights. We all tend to think, "well everybody knows that" when we think about what we know, but the truth is that most of the time, most other folks DON'T know what we know or how to do what we can do easily. Your unique insight is valuable and can be of great interest and help to others.

Avoid jumping from opportunity to opportunity. You will be better off if you stay away from things that only attract you because of the claims about money and focus on the real tools and information out there that will help you to capitalize on your unique skills, experience, education, passions and interests to develop a winning strategy.

The bottom line is to not spin your wheels and waste precious days, weeks, months and years of your life doing things that someone tells you will "make you rich." Spend your valuable time creating real value for others, creating real things that people in this world really need. If you do this, you will succeed in business.

You are free to share this article in any manner that you like with the following exceptions. You can email it, use it in presentations, print it, place it on blogs and websites, and otherwise use it only IF (1) you do not alter it in any manner and (2) you give credit to the author by linking back to MapCruzin.com and RecyclingSecrets.com. Thank you.

How I Write eBooks and Earn a Fulltime Income with Adsense

2010-10-12T20:19:00.000-07:00

Frequently I get emails from folks asking me how I get my ideas and write my ebooks. Others write to ask how I make money with adsense. I'm writing an ebook right now that covers both topics and more. In this new ebook I talk about how I developed my first ebook, Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business Manual and the website, Recycling Secrets, and blog, Recycling Secrets Blog that goes along with it.

I also talk about my other website, MapCruzin.com. MapCruzin.com pays me a fulltime income that is totally provided by adsense income. I tell how I let my passion build the content and the traffic and about the various strategies I used to grow it from making a few hundred dollars per month a few years ago to several thousand dollars per month now. If you signup for updates I'll let you know when this new ebook is completed. Or just keep checking back. It shouldn't be long now.

In the meantime I thought I should share a few of the resources that I have used to grow my online home based business.
I hope they are as helpful to you as they have been to me.

Adsense is Back - I've bought quite a few adsense books and they've helped me grow my adsense income from a few hundred a month to several thousand per month in a few short years. Tony's book goes at the top of the stack. He is no "guru" - no guarantees, no hype - just good plain uncommonsense strategies that work to increase adsense revenues...More

How to Write your eBook in 7 Days - This is the information you need to make that breakthrough and finally finish your ebook. I had been thinking about mine and intending to write my first one for 20 years! (of course it wasn't originally going to be an ebook). This ebook was one of the few that really helped me get started and FINISH. Give it a try...More

Think, Write & RETIRE! - It took me quite awhile to get past writer's block and really dig into creating my ebooks. Mani offers a very straightforward approach to organizing, writing and marketing your ebooks. He is really good at helping you to develop your own unique ebooks based on your interests and passion...More

Blog Mastermind - Dont' let the title make you skip this one. Yaro is the real deal. He has learned the hard way how to create and grow blogs. He'll walk you through the same system that he has developed for himself - a system that earns him a substantial fulltime income...More

P.S. Yes, I do earn a commission from the sales of these. Thank you for looking and helping to support my work.

AVG Antivirus May Be Blocking Adsense Ads

2010-10-12T18:23:00.000-07:00

Hi - Since many of you come to Recycling Secrets looking for information about home based businesses. Some of you may be using adsense on your websites so I thought I'd pass this along.

The other day I upgraded my AVG Antivirus program to the latest 2011 version. Today I was looking at my other website, MapCruzin.com and to my dismay my adsense ads were not appearing. This was very serious as my income from ads on the website allows me to continue to add valuable content to the website.

Fortunately I had only upgraded 2 of my computers. The third still had the older version of AVG Antivirus so I checked it. To my surprise my ads and ads on other websites were appearing just fine.

I went back to my original computer and checked other websites that I knew had adsense ads and they weren't appearing there either.

So, I looked through AVG 2011 to see if I can find the trouble. After a lot of time testing I finally discovered that turning off the AVG link scan solved the problem.

My big worry is that this is a new release of AVG and as people upgrade most will have the link scan enabled meaning that lots of webmasters like me will lose needed revenue until this is fixed.

So... check your websites and if you have the same problem I encourage you to contact Google Adsense and AVG Antivirus and encourage them to fix this quickly.

Thanks

Mike
RecyclingSecrets.com
Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business Manual

MapCruzin.com
Free GIS Software, Maps, Shapefiles, Tutorials and Resources for Geographers and Cartographers

Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business Manual is available

2010-10-02T23:26:00.000-07:00

Thanks for your patience. The Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business Manual is now available for immediate download.

Check it out here

Home-Based Recycling and Salvage Business Manual to be Released

2010-07-18T15:17:00.000-07:00

I bootstrapped my way into the salvage and recycling business in the early 1980s. I began with building deconstruction and scrap metals and then moved into electronics, computer and telecommunications scrap where I learned to recover gold and other precious metals.

Recycling and salvage is, in my opinion, the perfect home-based business. There is no better time to get into it than now. Compared to when I began in the business in the 1980s, inflation has about doubled - meaning it takes about $2 dollars now to purchase what you could for $1 in the 1980s (housing, cars and some other items have increased in price much more than 2X but on average this is true). Over this same period the prices that you can get for used material, equipment, precious, non-ferrous and ferrous metals has increased 4 to 10 times.

Also, over this same period of time more and more is imported. Many of these products are inferior and some have serious health and safety effects. This increases the value of used materials and equipment.

My Home-Based Recycling and Salvage Business Manual includes information about my experience in the following:

* Electronic, telecommunication and computer scrap metals and gold recover, and reuse

* Non ferrous metals recycling

* Ferrous metal recycling

* Recovering precious metals

* Salvage and recycling for alternative energy

* Building deconstruction and material reuse

* Construction equipment salvage and reuse

* Idustrial equipment salvage and reuse

* Farm and rural

* Commons sense decision making

* Bootstrapping your home-based business

* Learning from my successes and mistakes

* Good business in bad times

* Promotion and marketing

* How to be paid for your work before you ever start.

* How to get the equipment and tools you need.

* How to stay solvent and operate on a cash basis

* Use and misuse of internet cyber tools

The manual is in its final draft and I expect to have it edited and ready for download by July 25th.

Click here to enter your email address and I'll let you know when it is completed so that you can download it right away.

Recycling and Salvage Opportunities Increase as Economy Continues to Worsen

2010-06-01T03:45:00.000-07:00

Recently I went to my favorite recycling yard to sell and give away some of my household recycleables. I was amazed to find that, due to budget tightening, the city was no longer helping to fund the center and they now had to charge $5 for each vehicle coming in. Thats a big DISincentive for recycling.

But... It increases your market if you are into recycleables. Folks no longer wishing to pay the $5 may be very interested in your picking them up for free. $5 won't seem like much to you if you are able to collect a large load from folks in your locale.

Also, while at the recycling center recently, I was in line next to a guy who was about to pay $9 to recycle his computer. I looked at it and told him that I'd take it for free. Turns out it was only a year old and terribly fragmented and full of viruses. It took me about 2 hours to clean it up and it works great - a one year old HP with all the bells and whistles.

Just think about how many folks in your town have computers that they'd like to get rid of. If your town is like mine, the line extends for miles when the center offers a free electronics drop off.

Why not save these folks a trip and others a fee and offer to pickup these computers from them. You can keep what you want and take a load of what you don't want to your center on a free day.

One last thing. I've noticed a couple of signs saying "free electronics recycling day cancelled." I'm betting that this too is because of the bad economy. So... it may be harder at the moment to get rid of what you don't want, but easier to get quality computers for reuse, recycling or salvage.

Good Luck

Visit RecylingSecrets.com for More

Free How-To:: Gold from Electronic, Telecommunication & Computer Scrap

2010-04-04T23:17:00.000-07:00

Free How-To: Gold from Electronic, Telecommunication & Computer Scrap

These reports chronicle my work in the recycling and salvage business. My only hope is that you will learn to prosper as I did and also learn from my mistakes. Best of Luck.

Part 1: To find the "gold" keep your eyes and ears open.

Part 2: Winning the Contract.

Part 3: Finding markets and getting the equipment you need.

Access the Electronic Gold Reports

Make Money: Aluminum Recycling & Salvage - Winter Storms Bring Recycling Profits

2010-01-28T19:24:00.000-08:00

Winter storms and extreme weather make a lot of aluminum available for recycling and reuse. Mobile home and trailer awnings are particularly susceptible to damage beyond repair. I found that many folks are very happy to just get the damaged material out their yards. Some will want to be paid a bit for the scrap.

I placed ads in freebie newspapers in the area and also posted signs on bulleting boards saying that I wanted damaged or unwanted used awnings and trailer skirting. I also contacted all the insurance companies in the area and left them a little handout saying the same. Nowadays, also postings on your local Craigslist and Freecycle makes sense.

Note that even though the awnings are damaged beyond repair in the eyes of those giving up the material, it doesn't mean that it's useless. Some of the larger parts of the frame are made of nice aluminum extrusions that are useful for other applications and easily resold for more than their scrap value. Same goes for some of the apparatus associated with the awnings.

This is NOT the sort of material that you want to take to the local recycler that normally deals in cans and plastics. My experience is that they will either not take it at all or offer you little or no money for it.

This is the sort of material that you want to hang onto until you have a trailer or pickup load. The best place to sell this scrap is to large metal salvage yards in big cities. But there's work to do before you haul it in or you'll get less than the best price. Sorting and cleaning is what it's all about.

There are different prices for different types of aluminum including...

Click here for complete article

This is part of an ongoing series documenting my experience in and thoughts about the future of the recycling and salvage business.

Visit RecyclingSecrets.com and the Recycling Secrets Blog for more information about recycling, reuse and salvage.

Mike Meuser
2010 is our year!!

Free Renewable Energy Maps and GIS Shapefiles

2010-01-27T18:55:00.001-08:00

In an earlier post I made the statement that I thought that recycling and salvage for renewable alternative energy is becoming a growing niche in the business. Here are some mapping and GIS sources that I have collected that may help you think about this field.

Renewable energy potential maps show fuelwood harvested, solar radiation, wind resources and geothermal potential for regions of the U.S.

Renewable energy ArcGIS shapefiles U.S. Biomass Potential: Wind Density and Speed, Hydrogen Potential, Electric Transmission, and Solar Potential for the U.S. Also, International Wind Density and Speed. These are in GIS format. If you are new to GIS check out this introduction. You can make maps yourself using this data and free GIS software - learn with this free tutorial.

Renewable Energy Atlas of the West: A Guide to the Region's Resource Potential - The Renewable Energy Atlas of the West is designed as a resource for policy makers, advocates, landowners, developers and others interested in furthering the production of electricity from renewable wind, solar, geothermal and biomass energy resources. Utilizing state-of-the-art GIS technology.

Maps by country of power resources, minerals, metals, oil, infrastructure

International Nuclear Safety Center Interactive Web Maps - Interactive maps provided by the International Nuclear Safety Center. Beginning with the world map you can drill down to continents and countries. Clicking on a nuclear facility at any level provides access to specific database information. You can also view all of the interactive maps one a single page and begin your investigation there.

hurricanes making landfall in U.S.

Reminder Electronic Gold and Recycling Tips

2010-01-18T01:56:00.000-08:00

Good Morning - It's been awhile since I've posted these links and some things have changed so I thought I'd repost some old and new links in case you missed them the first time around.

Also, I've recently been adding to Mike's Tips from the Field: Learn to profit in the home based recycling and salvage business.

Additions include:

High profits come from turning over your recycled and salvage material as quickly and as often as possible.

Learn how to bootstrap your home-based recycling business.

Home-Based Recycling Business Profits: Sell Used Tech Gadgets for Cash.

Home Based Recycling and Salvage 101: Bootsrap Yourself out of the Recession.

Recycling for Renewable and Alternative Energy: The next new big thing in recycling and salvage?

Soon I'll be writing more about recycling and salvage for the renewable and alternative energy fields, expanding to self-reliant systems for heating, cooling and alternative building materials. This IS the future for the home-based small recycling and salvage business.

I'll also be continuing my series on my work in the recycling and salvage fields. Once I finish up with the electronics and computer scrap, I'll bactrack a bit to my experience with metals, rural and farm salvage, and building deconstruction.

I hope that you'll stay with me. Lots to tell :)

Thanks!

Recycling for Renewable and Alternative Energy: The next new big thing in recycling and salvage?

2010-01-16T18:54:00.000-08:00

With the effects of climate change, peak oil, recession and financial crisis every growing, recycling and salvage for renewable and alternative energy will become increasingly important.

In my recycling and salvage of electronics and telecommunication work I found that there was a ready market for some quite used very large batteries. People with home power systems were willing to pay quite a bit for them and still save money over purchasing them new. These same folks were also looking for generators (alternators), meters, inverters, wire and many other electricity and wiring related items.

Renewable and alternative energy technology is ever-changing. As newer more efficient photovoltaic (PV) panels and complete roofing systems are created, older ones - that are still functional - will be replaced. Though these old ones may not be as efficient as the new, they certainly will have applications and be in demand for home and small business power. Also, as the new ones come to market, there will be heavy discounts on the old that you can take advantage of.

Over the next years the battery packs in hybrid cars will be replaced. I'm guessing that even if the entire pack - an assembly of several batteries - is "bad" there are some batteries in the pack that are good and the others may well be reconditionable. In the past I have found that around 3/4 of the batteries that are replaced can be reconditioned with a very slow 1 amp charge over several days. The manufacturers of the new "smart" chargers claim that they will recondition batteries and bring them back to near their original storage capacity. It is worth checking out... more.

Read entire article at RecyclingSecrets.com

Home Based Recycling and Salvage 101: Bootsrap Yourself out of the Recession

2010-01-16T18:47:00.000-08:00

I began in the recycling and salvage business in the early 1980s. Like today, but not as bad, there was a housing boom and bust that made making a living and maintaining a home difficult for many.

I was inspired to get into the recycling and salvage business after reading a little booklet titled, "Surplus and Salvage." I was amazed that everything I needed to improve my conditions and make a decent income were right in front of me - most everywhere I looked.

Without the insights in that little booklet I would have never dug myself out of the hole I was in. My hope is that this little article will help you see what is out there and how you might change your life for the better once you do.

Recycling and salvage is much more than collecting cans, cardboard, paper, etc. and taking them to a recycling center. This works, but to a very limited degree. For me, recycling and salvage takes some creativity.

In my mind, one of the reasons that our economy is failing is that "find a need and fill it" has become "create a need and fill it." Our economy is driven by greed and over-consumption instead of need. With enough money for advertising ANY need (e.g. desire) can be created. Recycling and salvage brings us back to a solid economic foundation based on need not greed.

In this work we are really operating at the ground level of needs and fulfillment. When I started out I first went from business to business and asked them, "what is it that you need?" Just a few days of doing this produced a long list of things that I should be on the lookout for. It included: old brass valves for rebuilding, auto parts for rebuilding, electric motors and generators for rebuilding, wooden shelving, steel shelving, desks, chairs, file cabinets, hand tools, power tools, plumbing supplies, glass ... The list went on and on.

So, now I had a list of things to keep my eye out for and ...

Read the entire article at RecyclingSecrets.com

Home-Based Recycling Business Profits: Sell Used Tech Gadgets for Cash

2010-01-05T18:21:00.000-08:00

January 5, 2010

Update October 29, 2010: The new Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business Manual is available for download. Check here for more information

---------------

Used working and, in many cases, broken PDAs, SmartPhones, iPODs, Cell Phones, Desktop PCs, Laptops, Game Consoles, Video Games and other gadgets can be sold for cash. I haven't sold to any of these companies yet, but their reviews are good. When working with anyone new to you, it pays to be cautious and send them a small quantity first to see how it works out. It also pays to compare prices between the various buyers. This list is not exhaustive, but is representative of what is out there.

I'm sure that you'll think of more ideas, but this is one I thought of. This seems like the near perfect way to raise money for non-profits and yourself as well. You could approach non-profits and churches and tell them that you'd help them setup a fundraising drive to collect old cell phones and other gadgets. You could take care of the business end and split the profits with them.

Here are some of the online buyers of used gadgets that I am aware of:

Pace Butler buys cell phones. They say, "PaceButler Corporation contributes to the local and worldwide community by providing top quality products and service. We are dedicated to customer satisfaction through constant improvement of systems and procedures. When our customers profit, we profit, resulting in a win/win situation."

CERecycle.com buys cell phones, PDAs, iPODs, and SmartPhones. They say, "AX Micro Solutions founded CERecycle.com, which is the world's leader in providing 3rd party repairs & service for PDA's, SmartPhones & iPOD units. We have helped individuals and corporations repair 1000's of Consumer Electronic Devices. We were getting many requests from customers to send us their used, old, broken or outdated Pda's, Cell Phones, iPOD's and smartphones. In the past we had no way of taking those units but that has changed. We have teamed up with several local and national corporations to recycle your Electronic items."

Capital Asset buys used desktop and laptop computers, working or not. They say, "Our aim, from day one, has been to offer our customers, whether a private party or a business , the fastest quality service as well as the best cash value . Quotes that our customers receive online instantly are a result of scrupulous research of the current market in the laptop retail industry and guarantee that you will get a competitive market value for your laptop."

Gazelle.com buys cell phones, PDAs desktops, camera lenses, projectors, LCD monitors, gaming consoles, laptops, digital cameras, GPS devices, satellite radios, streaming
media, home audio, calculators, movies, MP3
players, video games, camcorders, external
drives, Blu-Ray players. They say, "Gazelle believes that electronics recycling starts with reuse. After we buy electronics and gadgets, we evaluate their condition. When we receive items that are still in working condition, we extend their lives by removing all personal data from them, and selling the electronics through a variety of retail and wholesale outlets. Items without market value are recycled responsibly."

BuyMyTronics.com buys cell pnones, MP3 player, apple accessories,
iPODs, digital cameras, ebook readers. The say, "BuyMyTronics.com is here to give you an eco-friendly avenue to get rid of electronics while pocketing some extra cash. We offer a fast, simple and green way to get money for your gadgets—free shipping included. We currently purchase cell phones, Apple iPods, iPhones, laptops and desktops, plus most smart phones and PDAs (Blackberry, Treo, Nokia, HTC, LG, Motorola, etc.) Zunes, MP3 players and game consoles (Playstation, Xbox, Nintendo Wii). We don't care about the condition—we will take it broken or used. Get top dollar for your gadgets while keeping your eWaste out of the landfill!"

If you want to focus on cell phones, check this

Over a billion cell phones were sold in 2007. More in the last years. According to Park Associates there are over 4.5 billion cell phone users on the planet. If you are looking to focus on cell phone recycling, you might want to check out this guide by Scott Andrews. Scott has been in the precious metal recycling business for 30 years and his manuals helped me get started in the business back in the early 1980s. Check out Scott's Cell Phone Recycling Profit manual for high-profit recycling opportunities and insiders secrets to recycling cell phones. This manual is based on Scott Andrew's 30 years experience in the business.

by Michael Meuser
RecyclingSecrets.com

Update October 29, 2010: The new Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business Manual is available for download. Check here for more information

Michael Meuser bootstrapped his way into the salvage and recycling business in the early 1980s. He began with building deconstruction and scrap metals and then moved into electronics, computer and telecommunications scrap where he learned to recover gold and other precious metal. Michael tells his story, provides resources and offers his advice at his website, RecyclingSecrets.com, and his blog, Recycling Secrets Blog. Also, you can follow Michael on Twitter.

High profits come from turning over your recycled and salvage material as quickly and as often as possible

2010-01-03T17:52:00.000-08:00

by Michael Meuser, mike@recyclingsecrets.com

When I first started out I wanted to hold on to the material I collected telling myself I was waiting for the best price. It took me awhile to realize that by doing this I was crippling my business and putting it at risk. If you are like I was, you have a limited amount of capital and most likely started out by bootstrapping your business. If you are, it makes the most sense to turn over what you have collected as quickly as possible.

Here's an example. Let's say you paid $500 for a pickup load of high grade computer boards this morning. Gold has been going up and down and now it's a bit down, but you paid the amount you paid based on the value of gold NOW. So, you have to decide if you are in the salvage/recycling business or if you are a speculating investor. A speculator might hold off, see how the market goes and try to sell high, but this doesn't work if you are in the business. In this business it makes most sense to process or sell the goods today or tomorrow - as soon as possible - to get back your $500 stake plus 10-20% profit or more and have your capital available to do it again and again as often as possible.

Here's another way to look at it. If you pay $500 for something and can sell it tomorrow for $550, you've made a 10% profit in one day. If you wait a week for a better price and sell it for $575, you've made a 15% profit in a week but much less than that per day. For the entire week, you have not had your $500 of capital to use to buy and sell more material. $50 every day or so is more than $75 in a week. The more often you turn over your material, the higher your profit will be no matter how marginally profitable some of the individual transactions look at the time.

One very real risk of hanging on to your material too long is that when you do finally sell it, you'll need some of your capital for everyday expenses leaving less to buy more material with. If you are not careful this will be the beginning of a short downhill slide to not having enough capital to do business and then you have to bootstrap all over again starting at the bottom.

I'm not saying that there aren't times when it makes sense to wait a bit. If you live far from a refiner or buyer, it makes sense to make the trip with a large load rather than a small one. So, you have to factor in the cost of transportation and the value of your time. Some things like electric motor and generator cores or valve cores are sold to remanufacturers who don't want to be bothered with very small lots.

Bottom line is that to be profitable and make the most of your capital and to help make it grow, turn over your material as quickly as you can given the value of your time, transportation and shipping costs, and buyer constraints. In this case, time really is money.

Mike Meuser

Visit RecyclingSecrets.com for free home based recycling business resources and free how-to manual about recovering gold from electronic and computer scrap

Michael Meuser entered into the salvage and recycling business in the early 1980s. He began with building deconstruction and scrap metals and then moved into electronics, computer and telecommunications scrap where he learned to recover gold and other precious metal. Michael tells his story and offers his advice at his website, RecyclingSecrets.com, and his blog, Recycling Secrets Blog. Also, you can follow Michael on Twitter.

Recycling Recovering & Refining Gold and Silver from Computer and Electronic Scrap

2010-01-03T15:41:00.000-08:00

We've added some new videos about how to recycle, recover and refine Gold and Silver from computer and electronic scrap.

View the gold and silver videos

Visit RecyclingSecrets.com for free how-to manual about gold and precious metal recovery from electronic and computer scrap based on my own experience in the business

Salvage Lumber Success in Petaluma: $700,000 in three years

2009-12-17T12:36:00.000-08:00

Salvage Lumber Success in Petaluma: $700,000 in three years

12/17/2009 There's big money in salvage lumber. This fellows success reminds me of how well I did in the deconstruction business. I often found that when I tore down an old building or structure - that I usually got for free or was paid to tear down - I would have all or most of the material sold before it ever hit the ground. I'll be including more about my experience in deconstruction and building material salvage in upcoming realeases of my Gold from Electronic, Telecommunication & Computer Scrap: Experiences from the Field. Please check my Deconstruction, Recycling and Reusing Lumber and Building Materials pages for more articles and inspiration.

Read about making $700,000 in three years in the salvage lumber business

How to Calculate the Value of Scrap Gold

2009-09-25T18:53:00.000-07:00

How to Calculate the Value of Scrap Gold

If you have any scrap gold, you can sell it, but for how much? Gold prices tend to rise along with worries of war or inflation but before you bring gold jewelry, dental fillings, teeth, nuggets, and bars to a scrap gold dealer's counter (or send it off by mail) you should know exactly what it's worth. Most scrap gold dealers keep the calculation a secret. Here is their formula.

Steps

1. Separate your scrap gold into their various karat fineness (i.e. 10k, 14k or 18k). You may need a magnifying glass to see the number inscribed on the piece. If not, you may need to have the gold tested by a reputable dealer. There's also the possibility that some of the gold is actually just gold-plated, which a dealer would determine with certainty by using a chemical test. If you're uncertain, read up on How to Tell if Gold Is Real.

* If you have any gold coins, they may have a numismatic (coin) value above their metal value, based on age, rarity, and condition. Take it to a coin dealer; you may be able to get more money that way.
* Other sources for small amounts of scrap gold include: old cell phones, computer motherboards and other scrap electronic circuit boards.

Read Entire Article

Deconstructing for dollars: Recycling building materials can mean more than simply salvaging light fixtures

2009-09-25T18:39:00.000-07:00

Deconstructing for dollars: Recycling building materials can mean more than simply salvaging light fixtures

Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle) - by Brad Broberg Contributing Writer

To Thomas Nielsen, an old 2-by-4 is a terrible thing to waste -- or even recycle.

So when workers begin removing hundreds of timeworn public housing units to prepare for redeveloping the High Point community in West Seattle, Nielsen hopes to dismantle -- not destroy -- as many buildings as possible.

"No one's really tried it at this scale before," says Nielsen a project manager with the Seattle Housing Authority.

The process is called deconstruction. And while selective salvaging and/or recycling have long been part of the demolition process, total deconstruction is the latest -- and greenest -- way to go.

"The essence of deconstruction is to extract the embodied energy of all of the materials you encounter through the course of a demolition project," says Jim Primdahl, a deconstruction consultant from Portland.

Read Entire Article

$1.2 Billion Reasons to Recycle Old Computers

2009-09-25T18:14:00.000-07:00

This is a very nice inspirational article - $1.2 Billion Reasons to Recycle Old Computers. Enjoy.

BTW, part 4 of Gold from Electronic, Telecommunication & Computer Scrap should be ready in a day or two. Thanks.

USGS Report: Obsolete Computers, "Gold Mine," or High-Tech Trash? Resource Recovery from Recycling

2009-09-25T18:11:00.000-07:00

USGS Report: Obsolete Computers, "Gold Mine," or High-Tech Trash?
Resource Recovery from Recycling is available for free download. An excellent resource.

Gold from Electronic, Telecommunication & Computer Scrap is FREE

2009-09-25T17:58:00.000-07:00

Hello - I've gotten a few emails asking when my Gold from Electronic, Telecommunication & Computer Scrap manual would be ready to purchase. Just wanted to say again, in case it isn't clear on RecyclingSecrets.com, that I'm releasing the manual in installments as I write them and they are free - no charge or cost whatsoever. The first three installments of Gold from Electronic, Telecommunication & Computer Scrap are available now. Many more installments to come so check back often. Thanks.

Free Guide For Setting Up an Electronics Recycling Business

2009-09-23T22:30:00.000-07:00

Here's a free guide from the Northeast Recycling Council. Download the guide to setting up an electronics recycling business here.

Videos About Recovering Gold From Electronic and Computer Scrap

2009-09-23T22:24:00.000-07:00

I've added several videos about recovering gold and silver from electronic and computer scrap. Click here to view the gold recovery videos.

Gold from Electronic, Telecommunication & Computer Scrap: Part 3 - Getting Equipment, Finding Markets

2009-07-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

09/10/09
Mike Meuser
RecyclingSecrets.com

This is the 3rd in an ongoing series of articles about my experience in the electronic salvage, recycling and gold recovery business. New installments, resources, how-to articles and news can be found at RecyclingSecrets.com

In the last post I talked about looking at the material and bringing back some samples so I could begin to develop a market for the salvage - note that selling for reuse almost always brings in more revenue than recycling for the metal value.

In this post I'll talk a bit about getting equipment and marketing.

Once I saw the material, I knew that I needed a real truck. I had brought back quite a few large batteries. Each 2 volt cell weighed approximately 500 pounds and was about a foot square and 2 feet tall. I lived in a rural area where a lot of folks ran alternative energy systems so I put an ad in the local free advertising paper looking to sell the batteries or trade for a large flatbed truck.

I got a response almost immediately. A fellow had a nice old GMC 5 ton flatbed. It didn't run well, but he was willing to trade it for a set of batteries. Recall that I bid so low on the batteries that I hoped that i wouldn't get them - well, I'm sure glad I did - they turned out to be a "goldmine." It took about $200 to get the truck running well and I thought, "now I'm in business."

I thought I could rent a forklift in Nevada and along with the truck, haul all the stuff back to California. NOT! Turned out the only forklift was a giant weighing 14,000 pounds and was 150 miles away. It took me 5 hours to haul it all the way to the station and 7 hours to get it back once I was loaded. Not good.

So... my next task was to get a forklift. That first load with the 5 ton truck was almost entirely batteries - 10 sets in all--- continued at recyclingsecrets.com

More to come. New articles will be listed at RecyclingSecrets.com (news, tools, and resources are also available here) and also at the Recycling Secrets Blog.

Gold from Electronic, Telecommunication & Computer Scrap Part 2: Winning the Contract

2009-07-05T14:57:00.000-07:00

Gold from Electronic, Telecommunication & Computer Scrap Part 2: Winning the Contract

07/05/2009
RecyclingSecrets.com
by Michael Meuser

This is the 2nd in an ongoing series of articles about my experience in the electronic salvage, recycling and gold recovery business. New installments, resources, how-to articles and news can be found at RecyclingSecrets.com

In my last post I began the story of how I got into the electronics, telecommunications and computer recycling / gold recovery business. I'll tell you a bit more about it here.

This seeming very small "tip" I got from the telecommunication workers turned out to be a virtual gold mine for me and my family.

Up until the time I met these guys, all of their scrap from upgrades and repairs to telecommunication microwave repeater stations in Nevada went into the local landfills. But, because of the upgrade across the state from tube type repeater radios to solid state, the amount of scrap was just too much to handle in this manner.

They told me that they thought the scrap was going up for bid and that I should contact the local office about it. I first, though, wanted to know what it was that I was bidding on. So, I went to the local office, told them of my intentions and they gave me a key to a repeater station and told me to take notes, samples, talk to workers - in short do whatever it took to make a reasonable bid that I could live with.

I headed to Nevada with my very used dodge van. I brought back samples of microwave tubing (beautiful pure copper rectangular tubing with brass flanges), large batteries for their backup power, gold plated attentuators, connectors and the like and many many photos of gigantic steel racks, radios racks of extruded aluminum, etc. etc.

Turns out that the company just wanted a flat per pound bid for everything but the batteries and then a separate bid for the batteries. Batteries at the time were very low in value and, in fact, becoming hard to find anyone who would take them for scrap at all. I asked if I could just bid on everything else and leave the batteries behind and was told no - it was all or nothing.

I was also told that I would probably be the only contractor to bid - they clearly were not interested in the revenue, they just wanted the stuff out of there.

I bid only 1 cent per pound on the batteries and just a few cents on the rest. I was awarded the contract. I still remember the local office guy saying, "are you sure you can handle this?" and me saying, "sure, no problem at all."

When I got into my van and drove back --- continued at recyclingsecrets.com

More to come. New articles will be listed at RecyclingSecrets.com (news, tools, and resources are also available here) and also at the Recycling Secrets Blog.

Gold from Electronic, Telecommunication & Computer Scrap Part 1: To find the "gold" keep your eyes and ears open

2009-06-29T19:41:00.000-07:00

Gold from Electronic, Telecommunication & Computer Scrap Part 1: To find the "gold" keep your eyes and ears open

06/29/2009
Right Place at the Right time:
To find the "gold" keep your eyes and ears open.
RecyclingSecrets.com
by Michael Meuser

This is the first in an ongoing series of articles about my experience in the electronic salvage, recycling and gold recovery business. This short first article is about the the importance of not only being in the right place at the right time, but also keeping your eyes and ears open. New installments, resources, how-to articles and news can be found at RecyclingSecrets.com

In the early 1980s I happened upon a little booklet entitled, Surplus & Salvage - the 20 to 30 pages I read changed my life forever. I went to work right away doing building deconstruction, rural salvage of all sorts, metals recycling and the like. Soon I was presented with the opportunity to enter the electronic surplus recycling and gold recovery fields. This is how I entered into this business.

During my workdays I frequented a nearby rural coffee shop in California's Mother Lode region. A lot of the guys in there were getting coffee before they were going off to work for a major telecommunications company. This was the time of their breakup during the 1980s. I got to know these guys and one fellow, in particular, told me that they were converting all of the long distant microwave repeater stations radios from tube type to solid state.

He said that there were tons and tons of scrap aluminum, copper, gold plated items, batteries, racks ... on and on and on ... at each station and that there were 18 stations that needed this scrap hauled away.

Up to this point of this major changeover from tubes to solid state, the smaller amounts of scrap ended up in local landfills, but this was way too much to dispose of in this manner.

The short of it is that starting with a broken down dodge van, I was able to bootstrap myself into a position where I owned my own large flatbed truck and fork lift, was able to hire semi trucks to haul the scrap to a yard in --- continued at recyclingsecrets.com

More to come. New articles will be listed at RecyclingSecrets.com (news, tools, and resources are also available here) and also at the Recycling Secrets Blog.