North metro residents who are looking to make a buck or two while cleaning out their homes, yards and garages might want to consider attending Northstar Recycling’s (NRI) annual Earth Day event, scheduled for the week of April 22.
“It gives everybody a chance to learn a little bit about recycling and cleanout their garages or houses of unwanted metals and actually get paid for it,” said NRI co-owner Rick Mark.
Rick and his wife Melissa started the business in 1996 in a small garage in Wyoming. Once the business outgrew its first space, it moved down the road to its current location off Highway 61/Forest Boulevard in Hugo in 2000. Ever since then, the business has hosted an Earth Day event.
“Obviously, we are in the scrap metal business and our goal is to recycle,” Rick explained.
On Earth Day, hotdogs and T-shirts will be given out to customers, while supplies last. All week long, special pricing will be offered for a variety of items, including one of the more popular drop offs, aluminum cans.
“Out of all the metals we take in, it seems like people come in with those (cans) more often,” Rick said. “We have really focused on getting as many as we can.”
This year’s T-shirts, which will likely go fast, have a coupon on the back of them. “Anytime they wear that shirt in, that’s their coupon,” explained Melissa.
Rick expects the business will stay busy all week long due to the looming tariffs.
“Prices are going to be up substantially from last year,” Rick said, noting that this year customers will receive 90 cents per pound for aluminum, whereas last year’s event offered about 70 cents per pound.
Dating back to the pandemic, is when NRI really started to see a boom in business.
“We have gotten a lot busier. I think a lot more people are getting involved with recycling than ever before,” Rick explained. “During COVID when people were losing their jobs or staying home, they converted it into an alternative way to make money. It became a source of income for them … People liked how that worked for them, and they continued it.”
Rick says everyone is welcome at the business, not just a place for “the guys.”
“It is user friendly. Anyone and everyone can come here,” he said. “Anyone can come here and feel welcome. We have plenty of people to help everybody to learn and understand how all of this works.”
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