Recycling brings Long Beach man contentment

LONG BEACH -- If you drove past Mark Kreher’s Long Beach house, you might think he was having a garage sale.

He’s not, but everything in his garage is for sale, or will be.

“It’s just a normal day, trying to take stuff apart and try to fix it and find a home for it.”

Kreher, 54, calls himself a recycler, and The Dart found him doing what he loves.

“I love to piddle,” he said. “I have nothing else to do.”

His stated goal is “trying to keep it out of the landfill.”

“I just noticed so much stuff going into the landfill, I decided to try to recycle it.”

“It’s been a full-time job” for the retired Seabee.

“I’ve done it pretty much my entire life,” he said. “My dad and I did this growing up.

“When I retired, everybody in Hawaii said, ‘You’re going to need a big yard.’”

He had started collecting stuff left behind by service members when they were transferred away from Hawaii.

Kreher moved to Long Beach in 1984 and has continued the practice.

“I never put my trash can out.

“Katrina has taught me that material things don’t mean squat.

“After Katrina, I had to wait a long time to fix the house and I got into recycling, and one thing led to another.”

“I knew it before, that we were a disposable society,” and his practice as a recycler has proven the point.

“I can’t sell a kid’s bicycle for $10. People would rather buy a new one at Wal-Mart.”

“I’ve learned how to fix a lot of stuff” over the years, he said.

“It’s more of a challenge just to see if I can make it work.

“Sometimes I take things apart just to see how they are put together.

“I’ve tried to figure out how washing machines eat socks. They climb out of the drum” and fall inside the machine, he said. “It’s a mystery to me.”

Kreher is amazed at how many people don’t realize they need to clean the lint filter on their dryer.

Among Kreher’s current supply of “oddball stuff” includes a number of vacuum cleaners. “All you have to do it clean them out,” he said.

“Cleanliness brings a lot of stuff back to life.”

“I don’t sell stuff to get rich.” Kreher said he enjoys helping “people who need stuff and don’t have the money.

“People look at me and say ‘Is that all you want for this?”

“My goal is to pay for my granddaughters’ college education,” he said.

“I have no life, but I can say that I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my life.”