A brass lamp fixture at JBI Scrap Processors and Recycling Inc. in Cleveland. (Photo by Marvin Fong)

CLEVELAND — The scrappers at Joe Immormino's junkyard on the city's east side get pickier by the day.

They spend hours picking apart washers, dryers, televisions, computers and other bits of society's flotsam that they have collected to separate the tiny pieces of copper, aluminum or brass inside.

With scrap dealers paying for copper at $3 a pound, brass at $2 a pound, aluminum at 80 cents a pound and heavy iron at 22 cents a pound, the scrappers know that inside that appliance is metal of record-high value — and they are willing to work for it, instead of dumping a truckload of assorted metals for 12 cents a pound.

And what's happening at Immormino's junkyard, JBI Scrap Processors and Recycling Inc., is happening across the nation.

"I'm hearing more and more from all over that people are carefully separating the recycled metals and delivering just copper or aluminum," said Bruce Savage, spokesman for the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries in Washington.

Savage attributed the activity to a perilous U.S. economy and the fact that the price for scrap metals has increased dramatically in the past six months. The London Metals Exchange rate for copper has increased by a third — from $3 a pound to $4 — in the last six months, he said.

But it's a hard way to make a dollar.

Some do it bluntly, swinging hammers with sweaty arms to break off chunks of metal. Others use screwdrivers to meticulously disassemble the husks that once were cherished possessions.

Everyone selling to Immormino's scrapyard has to produce a photo identification and register.

If the items turn out to be stolen, the owners can point police to the person who brought them in. The scrapyard employees watch for anything suspicious, and an off-duty Cleveland police officer works there as security.

On a recent morning, the dusty scrap yard already was buzzing with a dozen scrappers by 8 a.m.

Cleveland resident Ed Edwards sifted through the truckload of scrap he has collected in the city.

He threw a 6-foot hot water heater off his truck, picked up a sledge hammer and began banging on the metal nozzles.

"Sometimes you can get as much money for the copper nozzles as the whole water heater," he said, tossing the small brown pieces into the truck.

Edwards, 34, has been a scrapper since he was 9, working at his father's side.

"It's hard work, but I can make as much in a few hours as I could working eight hours at a minimum-wage job," he said.

James Roach of Cleveland also was at the scrapyard that morning, dismantling a copying machine. He said the effort is worth his time.

"I know an aluminum plant that will give me all the scrap they are throwing away," he said. "I can sometimes get $900 for a truckload of aluminum scrap."

He not only makes money but also reduces the amount of what goes into landfills.

"I'm doing my part for recycling," he said.

But for the scrappers, the real goal is to find the hidden treasure within other people's castoffs.

"What I make here feeds my family," said Edwards, who takes apart computers to look for certain chips that another company buys. "It's a living."

Here's what scrap pickers can get for their extra effort:

Home hot water heater: Brass nozzles, worth $1

Washer or dryer: Copper wiring, worth $2 — worth less because it's sheathed in plastic, which has to be removed.

Aluminum casing from a door: Worth $18

(Michael Sangiacomo is a reporter for The Plain Dealer of Cleveland. He can be contacted at msangiacomo(at)plaind.com.)