Thar's money in them thar dumps!

Trash is sorted at an ecomaine landfill, the electromagnet in the
background is loading metals into the truck body.
Photo: ecomaine

  Travis Wagner, a professor at the University of Southern Maine cites a study that 114 Billion dollars worth of metals lie buried in the nations landfills.  He believes the landfills, or dumps, should be mined to retrieve the metals. I agree.  Since 2011 ecomaine has mined it's landfills in South Portland, Westbrook and Scarborough and recovered 27,000 tons of metal worth 2.4 Million dollars.  Would you bury a 20 dollar bill in your backyard?
  I noticed that the City of Brewer while tearing down one of the old schools have sorted the debris into three piles, metal, brick and cinderblock and wood and other building materials.  The toilets and sinks had already been removed (they make good material to include in paving), the glass was also removed for recycling.