From her mother's perch behind the desk, surrounded by old bent license plates and scattered oddities from the scrap yard, Whitney Van Dyke has witnessed industry growth first-hand.
Whitney, now 20, has spent 15 years in the scrap and recycling business. Throughout her childhood, her mother Lisa Schmitt would bring her to work at Lonnie's Recycling Inc., 501 Maple Street, Lawrence. Since the economy has faltered, paradoxically, their business has really picked up.
Lisa and Whitney have seen growth reflective of trends throughout the national scrap and recycling industry. Changes throughout America, from the troubled economy to the changing environment, bring more customers to scrap yards, even as they complicate the way scrap yards do business.
"Every work day is different," Whitney says. "Weather affects how much business we get, and changing prices, so it's really day-to day. Overall, though, business is growing."
On some days, she says, up to 100 people from all walks of life will bring in up to 1,000 lbs of aluminum cans alone, to be crushed in Lonnie's yard and resold to larger plants in Kansas City.
In 2007, scrap and recycling was a $71 billion industry (up from $65 billion in 2006) employing more than 50,000 workers, according to the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries. For scrap yard and recycling businesses such as Lonnie's, high steel prices and dire economic conditions actually increase business. Lonnie's buys recyclables and scrap primarily from cash-strapped locals who bring in cans, car parts, copper wire, and other found materials. When times are tough, more is collected and sold, and business prospers.
"I think our country's in for hard times," says Lon E. Faler, owner of Lonnie's Recycling, Inc., and Lisa's employer. "For us, this is good news. Many more items are going overseas, to places like China, so there is more market for recycling. Plus, we're going to need metal after all these hurricanes."
Bo Killaugh, owner of 12th & Haskell Recycle Center, 1146 Haskell Ave., Lawrence, also knows what effect this increased demand for steel can have. Since opening at this location four years ago, the amount of recycled material passing through his scrap yard has increased by one-third each year. A pile of dismantled cars looming behind his property is surrounded by a fence, required in order for businesses to keep their salvage license.
"People bring in all sorts of materials: car batteries, old radiators, refrigerators, even crutches." he said. "We separate the usable steel from plastic and other impurities. You'd be surprised how much is recyclable, and more people are realizing that."
Escalating economic and environmental changes do create complications, even as they bring in more business. High gas prices, for example, raise the cost to send collection trucks to roll-off boxes placed throughout town. Economic strife, even as it brings in more business, raises demand for high-priced steel and causes increased crime among scrap collectors and dealers.
Kerry Wheeler, a Lawrence fairground caretaker and local seller of scrap and recyclables, has had to deal with thieves. Because his care-taking job only provides him with room and board, he must depend upon money given to him by 12th & Haskell Recycle Center in exchange for his collected recyclables.
"You gotta come up with a lot of junk," he says. "I store aluminum cans in big black trash bags in my garage, then trade them in when prices are highest. Some people will come along and take the bags if you leave 'em too long! The secret is knowing how long to set on 'em."
He weighs his truck (4480 lbs) before unloading the scrap metal he collected at the fairgrounds, and then weighs it again afterwards (3880 lbs). At $60 a ton, Wheeler is given $18. He will use this money to buy food and gas.
Back at Lonnie's, Lisa Schmitt sifts through titles on junk cars Lonnie's has purchased, at $80 a ton. These cars will eventually be broken down and sent to Smurfit-Stone or Deffenbaugh, two large industrial recycling centers in Kansas City, along with the rest of the recyclable material. In the US, 81.6 million tons of iron and steel is recycled each year.
She smiles self-consciously when Lon, the owner, calls her the brains of the operation, but does not deny it.
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