DENVER -- One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

“Steel is good, copper is real good,” said Carl Santorno who sold a trailer full of scrap metal Wednesday.

Over the past six months, scrap metal sales have increased as people hurting for cash are looking for anything to make an extra buck.

“Clean up the yard, boom, here comes an extra hundred bucks,” said Santorno.

Now is the time to sell as steel prices have doubled in the last six months, peaking at an all time high according to owners of two Denver metro area recycling companies.

Mike Cohen who owns Iron and Metals Inc. in North Denver said prices are driven by outside forces.

“A lot of it is export demand from China, India, Turkey,” said Cohen. “They are all buying scrap from the United States so people along the coasts are exporting it so that is driving up the price for people in the middle of the country, like us in Denver.”

The high prices have families who have never been to a recycling yard learning the tricks of the trade.

“We recycle steel, wire, brass, anything ,” said Melinda Willman, who recently started selling scrap metal. “It is lucrative, extra gas money.”

Santorno cashed in an entire trailer of scrap metal and walked away with more than $300.

But for some, scrapping is about more than money.

“We’d rather recycle it and let someone use it rather than throw it away,” said Craig Bigbee, who recycles leftover work metal.

A recycler can earn 80 cents a pound on aluminum and $190 a ton for a full car. A typical washing machine brings in around $36.