Recycling Business Booming In CA, Unlikely People Cashing In

May 6, 2011 10:15 PM

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SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — The recycling business is booming in California, and consumers are recycling at a rate of 82 percent which is the highest in the nation.

It’s not how most people want to spend their Friday afternoon – lugging and dumping their trash at a recycling center, but this is how people like Warren survive.

“I was working as a network hardware engineer for nine years,” says Warren.

After getting laid off this nicely dressed, well-educated single dad realized dumpster diving was one of the few ways he could put food on the table for his girls.

“Every little bit adds up, digging through garbage cans isn’t fun bit you do what you gotta do,” explains Warren.

Now he earns $40 a week, and Warren is not alone.

According to Cal Recycle, a record number of people are saying, “we’ve already bought the soda, so instead of just throwing it away, why not recycle it and make $2 a pound?”

From laid-off professionals to college students, a record number of Californians are cashing in on recycled cans and bottles, and they couldn’t have picked a better time. Sites like recycling industries are paying more for aluminum than they ever have before.

Recycling Business Booming In CA, Unlikely People Cashing In

Miles Finch

Judy, 5 people on the goverment teet and not a
job to find ? No part time anything ? Paper route ?
Maybe one of the 5 could learn how to fix cars with
all their spare time ?

Judy

We try anything that offers. The electrician just had a couple of small jobs at a trailer park that was hit by the tornado. It is not for lack of trying. Paper routes nowadays usually require a car. Like I say, don’t judge until you have been there. We don’t believe in living off the government but sometimes there is no alternative. And don’t get started on my social security because I worked for that and had many in the previous generation that never realized a dime off it.
mile

yeah, putting in 38 dollar seals saves 1000 bucks, imagine the costs of computer work that need diagnostic machinery…..rip offs..rip offs
Varion

When McDonald’s was looking for 50,000 new hires a few weeks back over 1,000,000 people turned up. They hired over 60,000 and turned away more than 950,000 people. Many of these jobs (McJobs) are 20 hours every 2 weeks on 3 hour shifts.
Don’t tell me that jobs are easy to get.
Stock market is up because the fed is running the printing presses.
Cars sell because they have a limited life. They crash. They wear out.
Home sales are still dismal and prices are still dropping.
Retail sales numbers are only up because of the price of gas.

An illusion of statistics.

JustAGuy

I just looked her up. Caroline Spelman is a member of the Conservative Party.

From American sensabilities, that’s like saying Barack Obama is a Tea Partier. Would someone from the UK please explain this to us Americans?

JustAGuy

Oops, wrong forum. Sorry.

DeeDee

I dont know how you can say that all people that are on welfare (food stamps and ect.) are just there for the hand outs. I worked for 9 years for one company but because of downsizing they closed our whole location…. I paid into the sytem for 9 years….shouldnt the people that pay into the system be able to benefit from it when their luck in on the low side???
KJ

What about the local Food Bank.? Taking recyclables out of our garbage cans reduces the money that the waste management company gets and so they raise our fees. By contrast, the Food Bank stocks food that is donated by the community and by local grocery stores looking to get rid of surplus food or food that’s close to expiring, in other words, food that might otherwise go to waste anyway. It may feel hard to ask for such a hand-out, but it beats spiraling into credit card debt, and it doesn’t burden the tax-payer.
Gary

$40.00 a week? I did the same thing for 2 years when I could not find a job and had my incomc built up to $250 to $300 a week until the great commodities crash 2 years ago. This guy is either lying (doesn’t want IRS to know) ir he isn’t trying too hard.
http://www.survivalblog.com/2011/05/economics_and_investing_805.html Economics and Investing: – SurvivalBlog.com

[...] Huge Numbers Dumpster Diving For Extra Cash [...]
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