Turn Your Trash into Cash

Ever since I was a child, my mother and I have recycled aluminum cans together. I was responsible for smashing and bagging them, and in return she would drive me to the recycling center and let me keep the money. It was an easy job at the time, because in a family of ten, there were always empty soda cans somewhere around the house.

Since I’ve returned home after being gone for twenty years, my mother and I have started up our business again. But this time, things have changed. I still have to bag the cans, but now I’m driving her to the recycling center, and she keeps the money.

Another change is that my mother has become more aggressive in how she collects her inventory of merchandise. Anytime we drive somewhere, she searches the road and ditches, and points out any aluminum cans she sees. If there are three or more within a few feet, she insists that I stop the car and pick them up. She makes me routinely call my siblings to ensure they are saving their cans for her, and has ordered me to dig through trashcans filled with dirty diapers and bees.

“It’s cash money,” my momma said. “And I have some tweezers to get the bee stinger out of your arm.”

Although I can’t say I enjoy walking in muddy ditches and searching through garbage in the parking lot of Tiffany Plaza, I support my mother’s entrepreneurship 100 percent. Since she taught me that education is the key to success, this week we went and found out what it’s like to be the man who buys the aluminum cans from us.

Located at 723 AA Comeaux Memorial Drive, (Just past the ball park) Abbeville Scrap and Recycling is owned and operated by Earl James Fritz and his wife, Lisa. The company has been open for over three years, and purchases a variety of merchandise including aluminum, brass, copper and automotive batteries and radiators.

“Turn your trash into cash,” says Fritz. “That’s our motto.”



Before starting his business, Fritz worked construction in the oil field. His job sometimes required him to spend extended periods of time away. But now, he runs a business out of his home and yard, and receives help from family members including his dad, brother, cousins and children.

“I started this recycling business to help my community and the earth,” says Fritz. “But most importantly, to spend more time with my family.”

According to Fritz, the most difficult part of running his own business is the financial insecurity. Since so much of his income depends on his inventory, he relies heavily on the public.

“I’m never sure if someone is going to turn into our driveway,” says Fritz. “I once had a customer tell me that the community was lucky to have a place they could sell things to get money. But the truth is, I’m lucky to have them. Without the support of the people, my business couldn’t survive.”

In addition to the items Fritz recycles for his business, he also recycles the paper and plastic his family uses in their home. Although it provides no income, it is something he has done for years in order to do his part for the environment.

“I want to lead by example,” says Fritz. “If my kids see me doing something positive, they’ll follow in my footsteps.”

Fritz welcomed my mother and I into his home like we were long lost family. He gave us a tour of his business, and showed me how to operate the scale on which he weighs aluminum cans. Once I understood the process, I grabbed my mother’s large plastic bag of what she calls her retirement check, and weighed it.




“Ten pounds,” I said. “At thirty cents a pound, that’s three dollars.”

“Weigh it again,” my mother told me. “You’re trying to jip me.”

Fritz checked my work and assured my mother that ten pounds was correct. She accepted his decision, but looked at the sack of cans with a sad face as if they’d disappointed her.



“Did you learn anything that will help your can recycling enterprise?” I asked my mother as we drove away.

I had hoped she’d tell me that she learned the importance of family support when operating a business. Or that in addition to the income recycling brings, it prevents littering and is good for the environment. Or even the importance of an adult leading by example to send a positive message to his community and children.

But instead, she stared out at a crushed soda can in the middle of the road and said, “Yes. I learned that if I want to get more money for my cans, my son will have to put his foot on the scale.”

For more information on the items Abbeville Scrap and Recycling purchases, call 337-523-9322. To learn where you can recycle plastic and paper throughout the parish, call Solid Waste at 337-898-4338.