Tag Archives: fairfax

Fairfax Times Article Exerpt — When Junk King finds treasure in trash

Angela Woolsey of the Fairfax County Times writes a charming article about Junk King, Jun 24, 2016. Here is an excerpt; click here to see the whole article.

FairfaxTimesPic
Joey Powers was helping a woman in her late 90s clean out her house after the death of her husband when he stumbled across the cabinet of knives. It turned out that the woman’s husband had worked as a coroner for the U.S. Army during World War I, and he’d used the knives to perform autopsies.
“Especially in the D.C. area, there’s so much history, and so much that the older generations are getting rid of now,” Powers said. “Even though we have to let a lot of it go, it’s really cool to be able to take these little pieces of history and give them a little bit more life.”
Joey Powers donated a collection of photographs he found from the Alexandria area to the George Washington Historical Society in Mount Vernon.
“It’s not every single day that we’re running into priceless antiques or anything, but it certainly happens,” Joey said, prompting Graham to joke that his drivers might all turn into antique dealers someday.
Junk King boasts its drivers’ integrity as a chief selling point. They’re instructed to inform customers if they find something potentially valuable instead of trying to sneak it away.
“They’re honest guys, and if they weren’t, they wouldn’t last here,” Graham said, citing an example of when he managed to stop an Anacostia customer from throwing a print by Maxfield Parrish, an influential, early 20th-century painter, into the garbage can.

–More See Fairfax Times Article

Full House Cleanout Services

Most full house cleanouts are part of the process of the house. Click here for a two-minute video on a typical house cleanout.

For this particular job in Fairfax, we worked the executor who needed to prepare the house to put on the market. We worked with the executor’s schedule to distribute or sell the valuables in the house. Then we removed about 80 cubic yards of papers, books, clothing, trash, unwanted furniture, mattresses, old tube TVs, e-waste . . .

Nothing went to a landfill. We separated and recycled everything. (A local theater group took a vintage 1960’s kitchen table and chairs as theater props. We love to see old things find new homes.)

I personally know that being an executor is a tough job at a stressful time. In this case, our job is to make the executor’s job easier and make her look good to all the beneficiaries.

If you need to get a house ready to put on the market, part of the process will likely be removing and disposing some clutter. That’s real life. Junk King’s mission is to make the complicated task of sorting debris, loading trucks, and proper disposal painless for you.
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Is the Old Fridge really a goner?

My Fairfax neighbor told me, “My old refrigerator just provides a little shade for the food but doesn’t make things cold anymore. Can you get rid of it for me?”

We’ll be happy to come remove your old refrigerator or freezer and we’ll give you a good price, excellent service, and recycle it for you.

But first, let’s make sure the old fridge really is a goner. Follow these five simple steps:

1. Check the plug and circuit box to make sure your fridge is getting power.
2. Check the thermostat to make sure you didn’t accidentally bump it into the off position.
3. Make sure the vents in the back of the fridge or freezer aren’t blocked.
4. Ensure your condenser coils—at the back of, or underneath your fridge—are clean. You can use a coil brush or a vacuum to clean the coils.
5. Ensure that the condenser fan spins freely. If your condenser coils are on the back of your fridge, you won’t have a fan.

If the fan doesn’t turn, unplug fridge try to clean the fan blades. Then plug in the fridge and watch to make sure that the fan spins when the compressor turns on. If the fan doesn’t spin, you need to replace it. The parts run from $7 to $30 for most models.

If the fridge is dead, you’ll need a new one. Some stores provide free delivery and haul away—score! If the store tells you the haul-away fee is greater than $89, then you owe it to yourself to call Junk King for an estimate.

Recycling Metal from Junk

Americans throw away enough aluminum in three months to rebuild all of our commercial airplanes. The energy saved by recycling one aluminum can could run a television for three hours. The energy saved by recycling a year supply of steel cans can power a city the size of Washington DC for 10 years. You can recycle the small stuff—cans and such—through the county services. Northern Virginia and Montgomery Md have good programs for recycling.

For the big items,you may need a junk removal company. Junk King is, by far, the greenest.
In 2012, Junk King Fairfax recycled, repurposed, and donated everything we hauled—more than 950 tons. We met our goal of being 100% landfill free.

We recycled more than 150 tons of metal. We take metal items that other hauler will not take, such as propane tanks. We are one of the few haulers that has a warehouse where we can adequately sort the debris.

Junk Kings: Angie’s List Award

Junk King continues as the #1-rated Junk Removal Service on Angie’s List, earning the Super Service Award for 2012. Junk King has more A ratings than any other hauler in the Washington Metro Area. Our goal is to remain the #1-rated hauler through our commitment to customer care.

Junk King Super Service Award

Junk King Super Service Award

Junk King’s General Manager, Alex Powers, commented on his customer care: “We are building a junk removal service on relationships. We bonus our crews based on their customer reviews—not by their sales volume. We provide free advice, free estimates, fair prices, and almost flawless performance. And on those rare occasions when we do make a mistake, we always make it right with the customer.”

Junk King will soon expand service. At present, we server all of Northern Virginia: Fairfax, Alexandria, Arlington, and Prince William. In the New Year, we plan to serve Montgomery County, Maryland as well.

Neighborhood Cleanup Day!

Would you like to nominate your neighborhood for a Neighborhood Cleanup day?
Junk King Fairfax is sponsoring a series of Neighborhood cleanup days. These Saturday events provide huge savings and convenience to consumers.
On Neighborhood Cleanup Saturday, you can get rid of those items the trash company won’t take in the normal pick-up: old grills, basketball hoops, rusted bicycles, construction debris, furniture, appliances, TV monitors, e-waste, mattresses, tires, batteries . . . everything but hazardous waste.
The convenience is huge. Our strong crew carries all the heavy stuff. You point, we carry. We want our friends and neighbors to save their backs.
The savings are huge. The Neighborhood Cleanup discount puts your price below the trash company’s charge for special pick-ups.
Junk King is the greenest full-service junk removal company in Northern Virginia. We are 95% landfill free.
We have more than 3,000 neighborhoods in Northern Virginia, but only 52 Saturday’s each year. If you wish, you can nominate your neighborhood for a Neighborhood Cleanup Saturday, and we’ll give your neighborhood priority. Call me, Alex Powers, at (703) 455-3861 or send me an email at alexp@junk-king.com.

Green is a Great American Tradition

In the 1920s, 70% of cities in the United States ran recycling programs – just good economic sense for households.  During World War II, industry recycled and reused about 25% of the waste stream, everything from steel to nylon stockings.

Recycling fell on hard times after the War.  By 1960 only 7% of households recycled.

But now, we are returning to wisdom of the ages – Waste not, want not. By 1990, 17% of households recycled, and today more than 30% of households recycle.

Junk King is doing its part to keep tradition alive.  We have achieved a 92% recycle rate.