Or The Greenest Way Pays You The Most !

One of my duties at my day job is to supervise the purchasing of junk cars that we send away to metals recyclers who reprocess the old metals into new metals. And while it feels good to be working in a green industry, some of what I see is very disturbing and hardly green.

For starters, most of those guys who go around buying your old cars are doing horrible damage to the environment and many are simply dangerous to themselves and everyone else. Most of those guys DON'T safely dispose of waste oil, transmission fluid, antifreeze and Freon. Most of those guys pollute the air, soil and water with the many dangerous chemicals that are found in modern automobiles with no regards as to the damage their doing to our wildlife, drinking water and the air we breath.

It's against the law to remove insulation from wire by burning the wire but they do it anyway.

It's against the law to dump oil, antifreeze, gasoline and other automotive fluids on the ground, in streams, storm drains or into sewer systems but they do it anyway.

It's illegal to vent Freon into the air we breath but they do it anyway.

It's illegal to dump old tires and trash found in cars but they dump it so they won't have to pay for disposal.

And most of them don't care that I know what they're doing because they know I can't do anything about it.

But you can do something about it by not selling your junk car to disreputable car junkers and by selling your junk car directly to licensed salvage recycler.

In Greensboro, North Carolina, one such licensed salvage dealer is Salvage America. Selling your car directly to a licensed salvage recycler instead of your run of the mill junk man will not only help the environment but will also put more money in your pockets. After all, who do you think the junk man eventually sells your car to?

My first task after arriving at work this morning was to catch 3 thieves in the act of committing grand theft and larceny. No, I didn't do a lot but sometimes it doesn't take a lot to catch 3 crooks.

From my day job blog: Free tires for cars and light trucks with no strings attached.

Also, if you know any artists who work with scrap metal please tell them there's now another scrap metal dealer in town-- one who appreciates art and really wants their business.

Over at the day job blog we're giving away free golf balls. No strings, just golf balls.

At work today I met a man who told me he has paid for repairs on the same central air conditioning unit on the same commercial building located in east Greensboro on no less than 6 occasions and that even though the damage is caused by aluminum and copper theft he doesn't bother to call the Greensboro Police Department because he believes it a waste of time to call them. His lowest repair bill to date was over $1,400.oo.

At my new job I buy scrap metal including copper and aluminum of the kinds thieves steal from air conditioners and plumbing. While I don't want to buy stolen merchandise it is very hard to prove a piece of copper pipe is actually stolen and to make accusations of that nature would be a sure fire way to run sellers to our competition.

In the past we've worked with police to help solve this problem and we always comply with North Carolina state laws requiring photo IDs from everyone we buy scrap metal from, including sellers of aluminum beer and soft drink cans. We will happily work with police in the future giving them access to anything we have without the need for warrants.

On occasion, scrap metals are stolen from us and we've no doubt that at one time or another we have bought scrap metals that were stolen from us. Talk about adding insult to injury.

Over the holiday weekend vandals shot the windows out of our Mack truck. Windows cost over $200.oo each. We always call the police whenever a crime is committed and encourage others to do the same as not reporting crime makes your neighborhood appear to be safer than it really is. That said, I can understand the frustration of the man I met today.

To learn more about my new job visit SalvageAmerica.us.

Over at the day job blog is an announcement that Salvage America is opening Greensboro's first bicycle junkyard.

Blogsboro reader, Hugh, sent me this link so I posted it to my day job blog with the title, Salvage America Reduces The Cost Of Gasoline.

Blogging is one of the many things I do at Salvage America (I'm the guy you're most likely to do business with if you happen by.) and my personal blog is what got me the job in the first place. Maybe I finally managed to do something right.

By the way, next week we'll have several bicycles that we saved from the crusher and repaired, available for sale-- cheap.