05/10/2008
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Staff photo by Joe Phelan"This week, we had a woman driving a Ford Taurus with a little trailer behind her who brought in stainless steel," said John Clark. "We pay 70 cents a pound, so it doesn't take too much to add up pretty fast."
It's the same scene over at Smorgon Steel Recycling in Oakland, where a stream of trucks bearing scrap metal stretched three blocks from the gates, creeping forward as truck after truck went over the scales and emptied its load.
It was a long wait, but drivers were in high spirits as they prepared to trade tons of junk for pocketfuls of cash.
Rising metal prices have people recycling everything from copper and brass to whole vehicles or old dump trucks rusting behind barns.
"I've had that sitting out there for 20 years," Cliff Taylor II, of Freeman, said, gesturing to a battered 1977 Dodge pickup truck on his trailer.
"The price was right," he said. "And a tree fell on it this winter."
Taylor was one of nearly 1,000 people expected to drop off a load of scrap by day's end at Smorgon's facilities in Oakland, Augusta, Bangor and Arundel.
Thousands more statewide are scouring barns, backyards and the countryside to find metal to sell as prices skyrocket, according to Smorgon Recycling Vice President Peter McAvoy.
"Not that long ago, we were paying $75, $85 a ton for junk cars," he said in an interview around 10:30 a.m. Friday. "Now we are paying -- it's gone up so fast, I can't even remember it, I have to keep a cheat sheet here -- $235 a ton."
By 4 p.m. that day, the price had passed $245 and was heading to $250.
A combination of factors is driving up the price of steel.
One of the biggest demand comes from developing countries, especially in the Far East, which need metal to construct buildings and automobiles, McAvoy said.
Clark, in Hallowell, theorized the higher demand that's forced higher prices has to do with the war in Iraq.
Whatever the cause, the cost of steel is so high it's now cheaper to recycle steel than to mine iron ore and process it.
Smorgan ships steel by road and by rail all across the continent and by freighter overseas out of Boston and New York.
McAvoy said difficult economic times pushed people to the limits of their budgets, so some are seizing on the opportunity to get some easy cash.
"If somebody's got a bunch of stuff in a pile in their barn and they bring it in on a truck, a lot of people are walking out of here with $1,000 when they were expecting $150," McAvoy said.
Steel recycling plants, especially in Maine, typically see an increase in scrap metal drop-offs in summer, when melted snow allows residents to reach junk cars or other bits of scrap metal in their yards.
"It's kind of funny," Clark said. "Everyone's getting into the business now. Everyone has metal somewhere in their yard that they're doing absolutely nothing with. Now's the time to get rid of it while prices are high."
Clark said he's paying 14 cents a pound for No. 1 steel -- double the price of a year ago.
This year's unprecedented rush at the scrap yards comes as residents' spring cleaning coincides with the enormous price increase.
"My son lives near the gate, and he awoke at 5 a.m. to the smell of eggs and ham, and he thought his fiancee was cooking breakfast," McAvoy said. "But it was (the people in line at the gate) cooking breakfast, having a tailgate party."
Maine State Police have deployed all over the state, issuing warnings and tickets to those who do not comply with the law on heavy loads. Pertinent requirements include:
* working brakes on trailers;
* current trailer inspections;
* loads secured with at least two cables;
* trucks hauling loads of over 6,000 pounds must have a commercial license plate; and
* a truck must be registered for combined truck and trailer weight.
Smorgon issued these in a notice to drivers.
In addition, employees handed out lottery tickets to drivers as they waited in line, telling them, "the cops are handing out tickets, and we are too," according to Gerald Withee, of Canaan, who at the time held a ticket that had just won him $100.
"Hey, it pays for my gas," he said.
Staff Writers Joel Elliott and Mechele Cooper contributed to this report.
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