Community Corner

Heavy Metal

Two men hustle around Park Slope collecting scrap metal for cash.

Luis “Red” Ortiz and Frank Reyes push a shopping cart down Eighth Avenue, but it is not full of groceries, but rather scrap metal they have picked up throughout the neighborhood so they can sell it to Sixth Street Iron and Metal for cash.

Ortiz, who has been “scrapping” for a couple of months, is 44 years old and from Jersey City. He was a desk clerk at the Holland Motor Lodge, which is a motel on the Jersey side of the Holland Tunnel for years, but came to New York City in 1994 to start a new life.

“I was a jack of all trades,” Ortiz said, who is a burly man with a red moustache and freckles on his face and arms, hence the nickname. He explained that he came to the city and had no problem finding work in demolition and as a foot messenger. “But when the economy tanked, I couldn’t find a job.”

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He was homeless for two years, from 1996 to 1998. He slept on the E train, but now lives in the Red Hook Houses, as does Reyes.

“All and all, NYC has treated me well,” Ortiz said, who has a faded blue tattoo on his right arm that reads “Mom,” while pulling some scrap metal off a shelf made by Ikea on Eighth Avenue. “If you can’t make it here, you can’t make it no where.”

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Frank Reyes is a 56-year-old man who used to paint ships in Connecticut for a company called General Dynamics and has been scrapping for 13 years.

“I took my mask off for one day and got sick,” Reyes said as his deep raspy voice raked each word, explaining that he was diagnosed with emphysema 15 years ago. “I do this to eat, pay the bills and survive. It keeps you busy and it’s something to do.”

Reyes is the “situator,” the man who carefully piles the metal in the cart to fit the maximum amount of metal possible. Oriz does the heavy lifting.

On Wednesday, they stared scrapping at 8 a.m. and worked until 4:20 p.m. They have to make it inside the gate of the scrap yard by 4:30 or less they’ll have to wait for tomorrow.

Different kinds of metals are valued at different prices. According to Reyes, scrap iron is 16 cents a pound, copper, which is the money-maker is $1.90 per pound, aluminum is 50 cents and brass is 70 cents per pound.

The most lucrative item is the air conditioners, for they have a motor and most of the radiator’s piping is copper.

“The money is in the copper and the brass,” Frank said with his harsh voice, explaining that 12 months ago copper used to cost $4. “But if you get bulls—t aluminum or a meager accumulation of scrap metal, you make nothing.”

This particular day, they haven’t had much luck. Their first load of the day got them $14, the second load was $24.

On a good week they each make $70 to $80 a day, which could help them walk away with $400 that week, but usually it is half that.

The duo said they work exclusively in Park Slope. It is the best neighborhood to scrap in by far because people throw away a lot of appliances. One day they got three air conditioners from one yard, which came out to $55.

“It’s rough, but you got to do what you got to do,” Oritz said, who learned how to scrap from Reyes. “I don’t knock anybody for their hustle, but personally I don’t see how you could be on the corner begging for change.” 

By 4 p.m. Reyes and Ortiz had 30 minutes to make it to the scrap yard, but they speculated that they only had $10 worth of metal in the cart, not enough for a last load. 

They walked down First Street, pushing the cart on their way to the scrap yard. But between Fifth and Fourth avenues they found a dumpster, a potential goldmine.

Ortiz hopped in and found that it was full of metal and started to toss pieces of steel to Reyes to fill up the cart.

“At the end of the day, sometimes you get lucky,” Ortiz said while knee deep in construction refuse. “You got to do the hustle, you have to beat the clock.”

Once they packed the cart full, they had five minutes to go. They brought 96 pounds of scrap metal into the yard and left with $11.

“Well, that’s that,” Ortiz said. “I am going home, taking a shower and eating dinner with my girlfriend.”

Reyes, although he didn’t make as much as he wanted, was still happy.

“You have to do whatever you have to do to survive, but you must respect people,” Reyes said. “Some guys steal and rob and use the economy as an excuse, but that’s not right. You have to work within the law. Everyone is having it hard.”


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