One Man's Junk is Another's Export

You might call it useless junk, but it is a US$39 million dollar export industry here. And the 58 companies that currently export ferrous discards see it as money. The number is up from the 34 firms only five years ago.

The last year's export earnings are 45% higher than the year before and double what it was in 2007. And the Foreign Trade Promotion agency PROCOMER is ecstatic about the whole thing.

Of course, the whole idea of turning old refrigerators and car parts into gold is not new. Fortunes were made in the United States during World War II and during early post-war years when steel mills could not turn out enough material for industry.

Rafael Zuņiga, general manager of the 45-year-old Zubre firm, who inherited the company from his father, says that he has dozens of suppliers in a wide area who bring him about 100 tons of recyclables and discards which he exports to China and Taiwan.

But along with this boom has come a downside -- street people, mostly drug addicts, steal cable from ICE lamp posts and TV companies. Zuņiga refuses to buy any material from doubtful sources -- but he is an exception in the trade.

This costs utility companies and TV cable firms millions each year. In fact, if this material is attempted to be palmed off on Zuņiga, he says he calls police. He also goes a step further.

"I won't buy rusted metal or 'dirty stuff.' I have my own environmental plan," he says. Presumably, old TV sets and computer monitors with environmentally polluting material inside goes to another recycler.

But Frank Hurtado, spokesman for the Frivarso company, says that the whole industry has a bad image here. His company contracts 110 men who drive their trucks long distances to scour out and haul prizes back to the plant.

"For many of them, this is a way of life and their only form of subsistence," he says. Juan Carlos Jara, Puriscal, who has been in the industry for eight years, agrees, "It's a productive industry which involves the entire family."

Jara resents the way people look at him when he states what he does. "Thanks to this business, I own my own home and truck. I do well. But we also take action to keep the environment clean."

Despite the fact that iron rusts out rapidly in the tropical climate, there is little doubt that this country would be a mess without the services of these independent businessmen. It is a small country and would be smaller if we had to live side-by-side with derelict cars.

By far the largest market for Costa Rica's export junk is Taiwan, 42%, with South Korea a far second with 17%. Despite stories of China's burgeoning industries, it accounts for only 4% of the junk sold abroad.

Although most of the 58 companies collect only ferrous metal, Plataforma Real Internacional S.A. is an exception. They collect paper, plastic cardboard and glass. They really clean up on the business.

By Rod Hughes, Fijatevos.com