People Cashing In By Selling Scrap Metal

The line for cash stretched out onto Orlando's Kaley Avenue. It's money on wheels. People such as Tina Eckenrod go through people's garbage to get scrap metal. She makes a living off the junk.

"Everyday," she said. "Just laying in the yard…"

This latest business trend is simple. Sell other people's trash. At scrapyards, giant claws build mountains with metal that will soon be torched apart. It comes in trucks, trailers, just about any way it can. Charles Wetzel walked in with it. He uses a pocket magnet as quality assurance.

"If it sticks to it, it ain't worth nothing," he said.

The soaring price of scrap metal has led some to steal it. So scrapyards keep track of everyone who sells. Aluminum was worth $.75 a pound Wednesday. Copper fetched. $3.20. The cost of bulk scrap metal has jumped three percent in the last two weeks alone and 300 percent since the 1990s.

"That's why you have so many people in this line," said Wetzel. "Because we're gonna figure out some way to make a buck."

Tina Eckenrod was hoping for $100 dollars for her Honda full of scrap.

"I go and pick it up on garbage night," she said.