Gibby,
I used to live in Cleveland. You have some great opportunities out there. First, each town has its own dump and most of them do not collect electronics except for a once a year drive. See if some of them will let you put in a collection bin. In addition, east of Cleveland (out near Chardon), there is a giant auction the first Saturday of every month. Anything that does not sell just gets tossed in the dumpster. Maybe you can get some of that or buy some of the stuff super cheap as scrap. As for automotive, our automotive group has about 20 collectors stop by each day and drop off several thousand dollars worth of auto parts. They buy not only from mechanics, but also from salvage yards, dealerships, etc. Find a good buyer for things like catalytics, water pumps, rack and pinions, etc. Then you can pay far more than scrap. One of my friends got a contract with Firestone to take all the rotors from every Firestone store in MD, northern VA and Eastern PA. Best of all, they pay at the end of the month so cash flow is sweet. Just keep working and talking to people. With automotive, it is usually the mechanics who sell the scrap not the managers or owners.