Profits and Laws in a Cash for Scrap Program

Many times has it been said that there is treasure in trash. Many times too has it been proven true, of which the cash for scrap scheme is one notable example. Yes, good money can be had from selling the scrap metals littering your neighborhood. However, there are laws about the activity that you must be aware of.

Profit Possibilities

Since your capital is basically just your time and effort with transportation gas thrown in, you can stand to benefit from selling scrap metals. Of course, the prices from one recycling center to the next vary but you should be able to earn more than a few dollars in profit for your time and effort.

Just to give you an idea of the prices of metal in the international market, in mid-December 2009, motor copper was valued at $6,829 while lead was priced at $1,957, per ton, of course. Well, you need not strive to collect a ton before you can join the cash for scrap program in your area.

To get you started on the profitable venture, here are steps that you can follow:

Locate the nearest scrap metal yard that will take in your haul. You may look through the phonebook or ask local authorities.

Identify the sites that may have scrap metal just lying around, waiting for somebody to haul them away for free. You may contact local body shops, automobile repair facilities, factories as well as construction and demolition sites. You may even just drive around looking for scrap metal that the owners may want to dispose of but have no way of knowing how to.

Indeed, the cash for scrap program makes it easy to earn cash, if you are willing to dive into other peoples' trash for treasures. Figuratively speaking, of course.

Pertinent Laws

Again, you have to know of the applicable laws in your area. Ordinances will differ from one county to the next, even from one town to the next in the same county, so it really pays to ask local authorities just to be on the safe side.

Generally speaking, however, the following laws apply to many localities, which are in place to protect the operators of the cash for scrap program from the liability arising out of theft of the scrap metals being sold:

Transactions amounting to $300 or more require a check be issued and mailed to the person and address on the valid ID card, preferably a driver's license.

Transactions amounting to $25 or more require the fingerprint of the person selling the scrap metal although the subject of a valid ID card may differ.

The age limit imposed in many states to recycle metal is at least 16 years of age.

Once you know the ins and outs of the ways to profit and the laws applicable in a cash for scrap, you can really make a living out of it. After all, with the construction boom, the world is in need of as much metal as it can get its hands on.

Questions? Comments? Need support? HELPDESK

Members | Affiliates | Privacy Policy

"Profits and Laws in a Cash for Scrap Program"

Profit Possibilities

Pertinent Laws