What's it worth?
Recycling: It's All About the Bling Bling
The purpose of this page is to keep tabs on what our recyclers have been paying and/or charging us for different materials. Curious volunteers, community members and Free Geeks in other areas may find this information especially illuminating. We also hope to use this information to do a better job projecting our financial picture month-to-month (as it often takes several weeks after a pickup before recyclers pay us, or bill us), as part of a continuing discussion about how to make recycling an efficient source of revenue for FG. Information will be sorted by vendor, and then broken down by material type.
The per-pound prices are from those listed on recent statements from our recyclers. The per-gaylord prices are estimates Richard and I came up with based on data from those statements.
Some of the basic information presented is redundant -- that is, it appears on other pages of the recycling wiki. This is because I receive so many questions on money matters as they relate to recycling, and wanted to create a stand-alone document that would be useful to many people. That said, I'm still new to wikis, so if you have any ideas about how to improve the organization or content of the recycling wiki (I'm looking at you, Freyley), feel free to add notes to the discussion page, to the articles themselves or to e-mail me.
Bob's Metals
What it takes: Steel What it's worth: The value of the steel we recycle is approximately the same as the cost for our recycler to come in and pick it up. It's the same situation with plastic: a wash. One of our big dreams is to aquire a compactor which will greatly increase the density and value of our steel.
Quantum
What it takes and what it's worth: Wire: .42/pound; ~$250/gaylord Power cords: .12/pound; $100/gaylord Ribbon cable: .12/pound; $60/gaylord Power supplies: .05/pound; ~$50/gaylord Hard Drives (minus controller boards): No data Keyboards: No payment Printers/scanners: No payment (note: Quantum does not consider these CBM, as we have) CBM (copper-bearing materials): .04/pound; ~$20/gaylord Aluminum: No data Stainless Steel: No data Fans: No data Speakers: No data
Hallmark
What it takes and what it's worth: Circuit boards: No data Controller boards (Hard drive): No data Memory: No data Processor bucket: No data; estimated $1,200/five gallon bucket Gold finger bucket: Same as above
Total Reclaim
What it takes: Monitors What it's worth: Monitors are a money suck. We charge $10 per monitor. How much does Total Reclaim charge us per monitor? Is there any additional charge for fuel and labor for the trailer swap (i.e. shipping)?