WARREN, Mich. – When the garbage truck makes rounds in Leif Gaines' Warren neighborhood, scrappers are already ahead of them.
"Every trash day it's pretty much the same group of trucks that will ride around here," Gaines said.
Jessica Hanlon is one of those scrappers.
"We get fans, vacuums, TVs, heavy metals, chairs. We get tools," Hanlon said.
She takes the trash treasures to a scrap yard and said she can make up to $2,000 a month.
"You can get enough to pay your house rent and bills by the end of the month," Hanlon said.
But City Council President Cecil St. Pierre said the scrapping hit a new level last fall when widespread flooding hit the area and residents were forced to unload mounds of their personal belongings onto the street. He said residents were upset that scrappers were rummaging through things and taking contaminated items.
"Warren recently went through a disaster last August and it was literally pandemonium in the sense that people were coming out, going through stuff that had sewage," St. Pierre said.
The City Council will take a vote Tuesday on an ordinance that would make scrapping a misdemeanor offense for scrappers to take anything from the curb without the owner's permission.
Scrappers would also need a license and not be allowed to pick through trash piles during city emergencies.
Hanlon doesn't like the idea of the ordinance.
"That is really sad to hear. Now a lot of people aren't going to make rent. I got friends who live off of scrapping," she said.
Do you think scrappers should be allowed in communities?