Get Junk cars off the islands

What I love about the internet is that you can start out searching for one thing and hours later you've visited a ton of sites that were'nt even on your "plan". After reading this thread I became interested in what does happen to junked cars. (Linda J's comment on it being our problem... why would we send it elsewhere)... so, I started searching... and there is a lot of interesting stuff out there. There is a lot of value (and a lot of business) in scrap metal.

First, scrap metal is normally classified as either ferrous or nonferrous. The ferrous, or magnetic, materials are steel items, typically worth $.01 to $.04 per pound in today's market. Car bodies are being bought for an average of $62.25 a ton, according to scrapindex.com, up almost $8 since February of this year. But before you start up the crusher... most cars have a lot of value in them for spare parts alone. A mechanic that is fixing up a car will go to a junk yard and find replacements for carburetors, bolts, hoods, doors, gas tanks... and the list goes on. They sell for a pretty penny too... but a lot less than new.

There is a huge market for car parts in Puerto Rico and down island. There are a lot of junkyards in Puerto Rico (I've seen them) and through this research I discovered there are scrap metal businesses too. Puerto Rico has several scrap metal processing facilities and they are doing well $$$ Here is info from one that is doing so well it is expanding in PR...

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS129711+21-May-2008+MW20080521

So, in the VI, as suggested... the idea of a "junk car return" business could be considered. The car gets turned in to the junker business and the owner gets a proof of proper disposal cert... so they can go get a next car. the junker business then dissassembles the car and saves all the parts (done on island or back in Puerto Rico... ) that can be sold as replacements. (there is a market and these could be advertised like on a craigslist of the caribbean or something)... The raw metal is then crushed shipped to one of the Puerto Rico processing plants. (You can't tell me that Spirit which goes to Puerto rico and back several times a week wouldn't be able to take the cars to Puerto Rico. for a fair price (see article above being by shipyards) and they go back mostly empty anyway.)

People make money all along the way and the environment benefits ,,, not just our environment... the whole world environment. So... LindaJ... think of it as a chance for us to be a good world citizen not that we are shipping away our problem. There probably isn't enough business here to support a local scrap yard... but PR is a lot bigger, a lot more people, and very close to us. Perfect partnership. Sign me up!

I thought there was a scrap yard in Turpentine Run...

There is one there and one in Subbase as well.

We already pay a lot of money to bring cars on the island, some of that should be for disposal. We pay by weight as I recall, although they call it a "road tax." It seems to me that the gas tax should pay for the roads (since the more gas you are using the more road usage you are using) and a portion of the taxes to bring a car on the island should be set aside to dispose of said car. One could even argue that if you ship your car off island you should get some of that money back (yeah right).

Sean

It wouldn't be that difficult to refund the monies paid into the special escrow account. When you turn your plates in and have proof of shipment. If the Govt can give you a stimulus check, I'M sure they are capable of giving you back monies paid for disposal purposes.

Am i correct in saying we have 150 "estates" here on STX? so the mayor needs to go from one end of the island to the other tagging and towing as a one time freebie and he can start north west and go all the way north east and then down to south east all the way south west,estate by estate a month long sweep of the island,haul them all to a central location and then process them all,and then maybe do a onetime offer of 50cents or a buck a tire for all the loose tires laying all over the place,do all of this once and then start in with hefty fines afterwards for any abandoned vehicles,or am i trying to live in that perfect world again?

trw.
I Think the real problem is the word "Recycle", Tires, Cars,Glass,Plastic, Electronic Equipment, Paint etc., the islands have done "Nothing" to date. Signs that say don't Litter only become targets for empty bottles at the side of the roads. It's not just tourist that throw their garbage out the windows of their rental cars, residents do the same thing. Our Garbage transfer stations are a joke, I'd like to have a dollar for every car that pulls in and think they are playing "hoops 3 points for an outside shot." I think if the islands started programs and "enforced them", one at a time it would restore the beauty of the islands. Just my 2 cents!

Back to Oahu. The "dumps"are transfer stations. You drive in and see separate bins (dumpsters) for landscape debris, which is eventually shreded for composting then sold, another bin for household, and others for wood ,metals and small amounts of construction debris. A fat local guy sits in a shed and takes your plate number ( you can only go once a day) and gets on your case if you break the disposal rules. it's locked at night. There is a mandatory recyling fee included in the price. It works and can't cost a lot to run, provides a slew of jobs downstream and takes the pressure off the limited land fill area. Again, I think I remember that some senators went to HI to study that aroung 2001.
How come the leaders don't get that we live on ilslands and our resources are finite. The crazy proposal that Waste Management recommended was a bright moment when I thought they were at least thinking about the waste crisis.

There was a paper, plastic, glass, and cardboard collection done a few years ago, but they screwed up by paying too much and using all the monies up too fast. I have never seen them attempt to do it again. Hopefully they are working on it now. Best bet is to find some private companies to do it for profit.

You would trust this government to not dip into the money for other things?

I think someone moved a decimal point when paying for the stuff, so the money ran out ten times quicker! Like they were supposed to pay 10 cents a pound and they paid a dollar. My last memory was seeing a rasta man, with a Pueblo cart about 6 feet high with flattened cardboard boxes, heading the the deposit area!

i would love to see some recycling going on and to be able to participate

The SEA has a list of what and where you can recycle. The reason I joined was to promote recycling. there is another group on STX that promotes recycling. You can take cans to Anna's Hope, newspapers to Animal welfare. Waste Management has a quarterly thing for electronics. You can use news paper as a mulch. Nothing for plastic or glass. When I remember the groups name I'll post or maybe someone else will. My wife calls me a recycling natzi

The Animal Welfare Center could use newspapers and plastic gallon containers (used gallons of water containers).

Go, Can we drop them off at the Animal Shelter Thrift Shop? Or where?

Drove by the dock area in Crown Bay today and seen at least 10 trailers, with about 40 crushed cars each on board, waiting to go away. The progress continues!

Bombi - You can drop them off at the shelter. Thanks!