At Wise Recycling near Clayton, about 200 people walk through the front door each day, said Gary Taylor, vice president. That number reflects a 20-percent increase over this time last year.

Similar increases have been reported at other centers, including Atlantic Scrap & Processing and Johnston County Recycling, both in Smithfield. At Johnston County Recycling, employee Tim Parrish estimated a 40-percent increase in customers in the past year.

"It has picked up tremendously," he said.

Taylor, of Wise Recycling, said the increase stemmed in large part from the weak U.S. economy and the rising costs of food and gas. "With the price of everything going up so fast, even that extra $5 people might have left laying around in the garage for six months is being put to use," he said.

Parrish agreed. "People give all kinds of reasons for it," he said. "Some will say they need it for gas money. We also have elderly people coming in and saying they are selling things to help them buy medications. People are looking for any way they can find to make money."

Gas prices weighed heavy on Matthew Scarborough's mind recently as he piled aluminum siding on a scale at Johnston County Recycling. Fifteen pounds of siding earned him $23.40, or a little more than half of what it costs to fill up his 1999 Chevy pickup.

"Most of the time, I’m lucky to get gas money out of it," Scarborough, of Princeton, said about his recycling efforts.

But Scarborough, a construction worker, said he is not looking a gift horse in the mouth. The dollars he earns from his monthly visits to recycling centers are dollars he can't live without.

"With the way metal prices have shot up, a load that might have gotten me $60 or $70 two years ago would get me $100 to $130," Scarborough said. "That is really crazy to me. But I am glad, because I need the cash. Times are tough."

Scarborough is not alone. On a recent Thursday afternoon, Tyree Faison of Middlesex was parked in a line of trucks waiting to enter Wise Recycling. Faison, 59, relies on money from recycling to supplement his disability benefits.

Faison has been unable to work since May 2005, when a car pulled out in front of him on Poole Road in Raleigh. His work truck struck the car, and Faison suffered a knee injury that forced him to quit his job.

Now Faison scraps for any kind of metal he can find. On that particular Thursday, his load included a 150-gallon steel drum, aluminum gating and an old washing machine made of tin. He figured that load might earn him $200.

"When you are on a fixed income like I am, every little bit helps," Faison said.

The business of recycling
Every little bit also helps those people for whom recycling is their sole means of income.

On that Thursday, Tyrone Sanders of Selma walked out of Atlantic Scrap & Processing $3 richer than when he arrived.

That might seem like a small payout for the 15 pounds of aluminum wire Sanders dropped off at the recycling center. But for Sanders, every dollar counts. The 20-something is among those who depend on recycling for their livelihood.

It can be a good income, said Frank Brenner of Atlantic Scrap & Processing. "It is not just a county phenomenon," he said. "The prices of metals are at historic highs, a cause of a weakened U.S. dollar. As a result, people are out there looking more aggressively for all kinds of materials."

Sanders quit his job at Wendy's about a month ago. Today, he cleans up the yards of the county's elderly residents. In return for his work, Sanders asks only that the homeowners allow him to collect any scrap metal left lying around.

"I don't charge them," he said. "I let them know up front about my intentions."

During an average 25-hour workweek, Sanders said, he tries to gather at least 300 pounds of aluminum and copper to sell. That amount of scrap metal often pays as much as $400, Sanders said. Even after factoring in the cost of gas, Sanders said, he is making more money working part-time than he earned working full-time at the restaurant.

So do friends Tony Barbour and Rusty Wagner, who teamed up last month after both lost their jobs with a heating and cooling company in Clayton. Barbour and Wagner were among those waiting in line at Wise Recycling during the company’s lunch hour on a recent Thursday.

Wagner said many of their scrap items, such as a cast-iron bathtub and steel piping, came from past clients and their friends. Wagner also posts occasional ads on Craigslist, a popular online place for buying and selling just about anything.

"We started out getting mostly smaller items," Wagner said. "But through the Internet and word of mouth, we have moved up to larger items."

It often takes the friends only 20 hours a week to drum up enough scrap metal to earn both of them $500 to $600. After deducting gas money from their weekly total, Wagner and Barbour split the remaining money 50-50.

"I make more doing this than I did at my old job," Wagner said.

"It is good work," Barbour added. "It is better than sitting at home and wishing you had a dollar."

Parrish, of Johnston County Recycling, said he expected the trend would continue. "People are going to keep cashing in anything they think they can get a nickel off of, whether that is cans, copper wire, aluminum siding, car radiators, air conditioning coils or insulated wire," he said. "They are looking for any way they can to make money."