The fun never ends on the set of Totaled Treasure. Here, the team finds a cardboard present cutout, and Wilbert's employee Elias Rosario pretends to be a surprise popping from a fake present box.
In the inset, Stone has arranged a mini-living room from found objects, and they review that day’s bounty with Eric Wilbert, second from left.
VINCE: One of the biggest compliments we receive is that they are thrilled with the package. In fact, the biggest indi- cator of success is that one recycler who participated sold the idea to another recycler for me. That’s the best thing that can happen: when your clients sell your product for you.
ARA: Can you tell us about when you highlight the employees in the episodes? What does that mean to them? VINCE: One of the initial conversations that Aaron has with the recycler is that we need an individual who has a great character or is funny. It’s rare that the recycler only comes up with one name. It has been really great to do this because it makes these employees feel appreciated that the owner would want to highlight them as a main character in the operation. AARON: These aren’t just jobs, this is a career. A great career where you can work your buns off, make a good living and feel good about what you’re doing. And so that’s something we always want to have in the DNA of the show. That is an important element – showing these people and the pride that they have. We asked one guy, “What is best thing you ever found in a car?” and he replied, “My career.”
ARA: What is the funniest thing that you’ve found that stands out in the episodes you’ve done? AARON: The easiest find for me to tell people about it is finding a dolphin skull in the back of a Dodge Ram. We don’t know what we are going to find.
Automotive Recycling
The production crew – like the postal service – works rain or shine at Wilbert’s U-PULL-IT in Williamson, NY.
On a different show, I found a chair and a rug, so in my mind I thought I’m going to try and find an entire living room. But I don’t know if that is going to pay off or if we are going to have to scrap the whole thing. So we find a chair and then we find a table and I said, “If we can find a television, I’m going to lose it.” And sure enough we found one of those small portable televisions in a back of a van. VINCE: This was one of those totally organic, unscripted moments, when Aaron sees the television and he comes running by me, jumping up and down like a crazy person because he knew he had just completed the circle of this thing we are trying to put together.
ARA: So what’s the plan for this next season of Totaled Treasure? AARON: We have enough content lined up to take us through the end of the year, starting with the new episode at the end of September. If you want to be the recycler we feature in 2022, we’d love to tell your story, have a lot of fun and put you in a great light. VINCE: We would also welcome sponsors. The more we can get sponsors involved, the more recyclers we can get involved because we can underwrite the expense through sponsorship.
For more information about being a part of Totaled
Treasure, as featured recycler or as a sponsor, contact Vince Edivan at
vince@a-r-a.org.
September-October 2021 // 35
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