Erik Levy, owner of the recycling company Save That Stuff, has taken repurposing to a new level — buying a surplus Brockton fire truck that he may retrofit with a pizza oven and grill to provide snacks for his employees, clients, and neighbors.
“I’ve never bought a fire truck before; my life is now complete,” Levy said. “We are not exactly sure how we will use the vehicle, but we’ve talked about a pizza oven and grill. I like the idea of an emergency vehicle in a non-emergency situation.”
Levy bought the 1981 pumper truck in late November for $7,400 in an online auction.
“It was a little bit of an impulse buy,” Levy said. “But it relates to what we do and is kind of a three-dimensional business card.”
Levy said the truck probably will stay in Brockton — where his company has a storage yard on Oak Hill Way — after getting modified at the headquarters located under the Tobin Bridge in Charlestown.
Save That Stuff started in 1990 with a single 1971 Volkswagen Double Cab — a half bus, half pickup truck — that Levy used to pick up cardboard in Boston. The company now has 35 trucks collecting waste from about 3,500 businesses in the Boston area, with an emphasis on hard-to-recycle materials, Levy said.
For example, Save That Stuff picks up coat hangers from the Gap, shredding and granulating the plastic parts to be made into new plastic products, he said.
Johanna Seltz can be