U Weekly. Serving The Ohio State University in Columbus Ohio

Cans today, cash tomorrow

By Ben Becker

The smell of stale beer and wet metal permeates the parking lot outside Recycling Exchange North on Westerville Road, just as it would many fraternity houses on 15th Avenue. Inside the warehouse, aluminum cans roll up a hopper to be weighed before they're crushed into bales the size of a small refrigerator. For every can sent up the conveyor belt, Jerome Gipson sees a dollar sign.

"That's tax-free money right there," Gipson said.

Gipson is one of Columbus' dumpster divers who generates income from campus junk. He used to work for the city and now collects disability from an injury he sustained on the job.

Gipson said he has been selling aluminum cans for four or five years. He takes his cans to Recycling Exchange North, where checks are distributed in accordance to collection weight. Last week, Gipson received $3.15 for the cans he found in an hour.

A representative from Recycling Exchange North said the company processes 200,000-300,000 pounds of metal in a month - an estimated one-third of that volume comes from aluminum cans.

Closer to the University District is PSC Metals, a scrap yard that also regularly buys cans from people in the community. Kyle Potts, the scale master at PSC, weighs incoming cans by the truckloads.

"It's all day, everyday. I've even seen wheelchairs full of them," said Potts.

Campus jackpots
The trash found after football Saturdays can be goldmines for the local can collector.

Despite colder temperatures, Halloween kept the empty cans flowing like Busch Light in the University District. Many lawns littered with cans Friday night near Indianola and Lane Avenues were cleared by the morning. While some residents may clean up after themselves, the prevalence of dumpster divers leads many front lawns to double as garbage bins.

Jason Wachs and Seth Osnowitz hosted a party like so many others on campus - ones that result in copious amounts of crumpled aluminum on the lawn.

"It doesn't really matter to me, the bums get them anyway," said second-year student Wachs of the cans cluttering the property.

Osnowitz said that the mess is embarrassing, but it's almost always gone in the morning. By not throwing the cans in the trash bins, Osnowitz said, "I'm just trying to make it easier for these guys."

Profession: aluminum accumulation
Lieutenant Christopher Bowling said he receives phone calls about homeless individuals going in and out of dumpsters. Bowling said he rarely witnesses any criminal activity - the act of picking up garbage is legal.

"To some extent, some of these folks may even be providing a service," Bowling said.

"You could find boy scouts or anyone else looking to make some money. Some people take this horrible tack on it, but it is just trash and at some point it needs to be picked up," said Bowling.

Johnny Scott is one such accumulator of aluminum, making money by beautifying the neighborhood.

"Police don't bother us," said Scott who had found two garbage bags full of aluminum cans in around one hour last Thursday morning.

Scott has been dumpster diving for twenty years and lives on 11th Avenue with his daughter and granddaughter. Scott works three or four times a week, depending on the weather, and patrols the alleys from Hudson Street to Downtown on either side of High Street. When it comes to making good money, he said he prefers doing "the District."

"Sometimes I'll make $150 a day, easy," Scott claimed.

Scott has found $80-$100 cash in dumpsters before, mentioning the propensity for drunk students to empty their pockets on accident. He also claimed to have found working flat-screen TVs and VCRs, canned food and even eight garbage bags full of marijuana plants. In addition to dumpster diving, Scott has houses that he cleans up regularly, whose residents pay him for the service.

"I've been around here so long people know me now. They seem me coming and leave the cans outside the dumpster so I can get them easier," said Scott.

Pride conquers prejudice
Overall, his relationship with OSU students is a positive one.

However Scott added, "You got prejudiced people around here."

Scott recounted a time when partying students offered him $20 to kick a box they said was empty. Scott said he broke his foot because the box had a brick inside. He walked to Grant Hospital, Scott continued, and was treated in the emergency room without having health insurance.

Scott also said he has been subjected to verbal abuse, but still defended those in the community.

"There are more than a few assholes but it's not in their nature," Scott said. "They're just drunk."

The drinking, however, is Scott's livelihood. He sometimes wheels 100 pounds of cans to both PSC Metals on Joyce Avenue or Recycling Exchange North, further away.

"I've gotten tickets for having too much stuff on my cart," Scott said.

At 54 years old, Scott said he's too old to cause any trouble, he is providing a service. He seems content with his station in life and is proud of the fact that he can put a roof over his family's heads and food in his refrigerator.

I'm supposed to have pride - it's a job to me. I don't care what people think about me, as long as I'm taking care of myself."

Originally Published: November 4, 2009

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