How much money can we make from three truckfulls of trash?

With the cold days of winter now upon us, it’s time for our team to complete the last jobs of the year over at the SoraHouse, the property we bought in the mountains of Saitama last summer for just US$9,100.

In order to start next year’s projects at the property with a clean slate, the final thing to cross off our to-do-list for 2022 was the clearing of trash, which we’d managed to stuff into 20 ton packs.

▼ Yes, we managed to fill 20 of these ton packs, mostly with wood waste from our torn-down shed.

As we learned previously, there’s a way to turn used wood into treasure in Japan, by taking it to the scrapyard, so we loaded as much as we could into one truck and headed off to see how much money we could make from it.

Our destination was the Kimura Construction Material Recycling Center in Saitama Prefecture. This is one of the largest recycling factories in the area, where industrial waste is sorted, crushed, and recycled into products after the removal of foreign matter.

In order to exchange wood for cash, you first have to fill out an application form…

▼ …and then drive your truck onto a scale to record its total weight.

▼ After that, you head over to the wood waste processing plant…

▼ …where you dump your load for processing….

▼ …before heading back to the scale to record the weight of your vehicle again.

By subtracting the new weight of the truck from the previous one, you can determine the weight of the load you just dropped off, which is essential as you get paid by the kilo.

This wasn’t going to be our last load, however, as we had more wood to get rid of, so we returned to the place where we’d stored our wood — Hobien, the local construction company that’s been helping us with the renovations — and filled another two loads for recycling.

▼ Emptying those packs onto the back of the truck was a very satisfying experience.

After another two trips to the recycling centre, it was finally time to find out how much money we’d made from our efforts.

▼ Heading off to the office with our paperwork in hand

So how much did we make? Well, the grand total for our wood turned out to be…

39,330 yen!

That works out to be US$296.33, which isn’t bad for a day’s work, and it was a lot more than we’d expected to receive.

▼ Our reporter Go Hatori, heading home with his pals from Hobien, was pleased with the payout.

With the SoraHouse due to receive snowfall this winter, it’s a relief to have the place cleared and ready for even more work to come in 2023. We’ve come a long way from bubble machine parties  during our first visit to the property, so be sure to keep an eye out for more transformations next year! Happy holidays, everyone!

Related: Hobien, Kimura Construction Material Recycling Centre
Photos ©SoraNews24
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