| Gold from Electronic, Telecommunication & | | | | Up to this point of this major changeover from |
| Computer Scrap Part 1: To find the "gold" keep | | | | tubes to solid state, the smaller amounts of scrap |
| your eyes and ears open | | | | ended up in local landfills, but this was way too |
| 06/29/2009 | | | | much to dispose of in this manner. |
| Right Place at the Right time: | | | | The short of it is that starting with a broken |
| To find the "gold" keep your eyes and ears open. | | | | down dodge van, I was able to bootstrap myself |
| RecyclingSecrets.comby Michael Meuser | | | | into a position where I owned my own large |
| This is the first in an ongoing series of articles | | | | flatbed truck and fork lift, was able to hire semi |
| about my experience in the electronic salvage, | | | | trucks to haul the scrap to a yard in California |
| recycling and gold recovery business. At first, I | | | | that I leased, got top dollar for my mixed scrap, |
| was going to write this up as an ebook and sell it, | | | | had a warehouse and crew to process the more |
| but I decided - given the tough economic times | | | | valuable non-ferrous metals, sold batteries and all |
| we all face - to give it away in installments. This | | | | sorts of equipment for reuse in alternative energy |
| short first article is about the the importance of | | | | projects and learned how to recover many |
| not only being in the right place at the right time, | | | | dozens of ounces of gold from plated items with |
| but also keeping your eyes and ears open. New | | | | a low toxic, environmentally friendly process that |
| installments, resources, how-to articles and news | | | | I developed with my uncle who was a chemist. I |
| can be found at | | | | did all of this with no startup money and no debt |
| In the early 1980s I happened upon a little booklet | | | | - 100% bootstrap. |
| entitled, Surplus & Salvage - the 20 to 30 | | | | I'll tell the entire story over this series of articles. |
| pages I read changed my life forever. I went to | | | | This turned out to be the "goldmine" of my life, |
| work right away doing building deconstruction, | | | | bringing me gold (in several forms) and riches in all |
| rural salvage of all sorts, metals recycling and the | | | | sorts of ways. My hope that my story will |
| like. Soon I was presented with the opportunity to | | | | encourage you to find your "goldmine" as well. |
| enter the electronic surplus recycling and gold | | | | Some of the highlights will include: |
| recovery fields. This is how I entered into this | | | | • Tips for obtaining scrap recyclable and |
| business. | | | | reusable material. |
| During my workdays I frequented a nearby rural | | | | • Salvage for alternative energy systems. |
| coffee shop in California's Mother Lode region. A | | | | • Scrap metal - ferrous and non-ferrous. |
| lot of the guys in there were getting coffee | | | | • Electronic, communication, computer scrap |
| before they were going off to work for a major | | | | and gold recovery. |
| telecommunications company. This was the time | | | | • How to deal with scrap and recycling dealers |
| of their breakup during the 1980s. I got to know | | | | and brokers. |
| these guys and one fellow, in particular, told me | | | | • How to arrange transportation, interim |
| that they were converting all of the long distant | | | | storage, cheap yard space without dealing with |
| microwave repeater stations radios from tube | | | | high cost commercial operators. |
| type to solid state. | | | | • How to be paid for your work before you |
| He said that there were tons and tons of scrap | | | | ever start. |
| aluminum, copper, gold plated items, batteries, | | | | • How to get the equipment and tools you |
| racks ... on and on and on ... at each station and | | | | need without going into debt. |
| that there were 18 stations that needed this | | | | • How to stay solvent and operate on a cash |
| scrap hauled away. | | | | basis. |