SOCORRO, Texas -- Believe it or not, a pile of junk can be considered a pile of treasure nowadays.

"Metal is going for a good price," said Ignacio Sarinana from Tornillo.

Sarinana said he can collect truck loads of scrap metals from farms where he works at or yards he cleans up. He hauls everything to scrap metal yards and, depending on the weight of the scrap, he gets cash, up to $1,000 per truck load.

"Anything that sticks to a magnet is metal," said Daisy Aguirre, the manager at American Metal Recycling.

She said the number of customers has jumped in recent months.

"I've seen more of an effort from our regular customers as well as new customers trying to bring in their own scrap, their own junk from their house," said Aguirre.

Aguirre attributes the increase to the economic times. And Sarinana agrees.

"You can make some extra cash, because right now times are tough for families. You gotta look around and see where you can make additional money."