GALVESTON, Texas—One man’s trash is another man’s treasure when it comes to scrap metal and Hurricane Ike.

Curtis Sanchez is among the storm victims forced to throw out loads of hurricane wreckage on the street.

“There have been a couple of guys coming through picking up air conditioners to try to scrap the coils out of them,” Sanchez said.

At C & D Scrap Metal, customers have flooded in unloading waterlogged appliances and metal for cash.

“We are probably buying 10 or 15 times more of that stuff today than we have in the last 30 years,” C & D’s Dennis Laviage said.

Some of that stuff has come from the streets of Galveston.

The City of Galveston is discouraging scavenging, saying it’s dangerous, is close to looting and could make it difficult for residents to prove what they lost to their insurance companies.

“They gave us a refrigerator, two deep freezers, a stove, everything – but the police made us unload it,” scavenger Bengie Connley said.

Galveston has hired private contractors to haul the trash away and recycle it. Scavengers are not allowed, even if they have permission from the property owners.

“If they came to my pile, I’d say you can have anything you want. It’s junk,” Sanchez said.

That’s a sentiment shared by the scavengers themselves, who’ve come to see Galveston as something of a treasure island.