Recycle Metals

Recycling metal items from your household is an excellent way to save energy and help reduce overall waste. In fact, recycling metals produces the largest energy savings of any other material. The process of recycling compared with the process of producing aluminum, lead and steel requires 94 percent, 75 percent and 72 percent less energy, respectively. Depending on the type of metal you have and the amount you have will determine whether it's best to recycle from your home or bring it in to a local scrap yard. Once you've figured out the type of metal you have, you'll need to properly sort and clean it.[1]

Steps

Identifying Recyclable Metals

  1. Recycle drink cans. Typically made of aluminum, soda, beer and other beverage cans are 100 percent recyclable.[2]
    • Check to see if your city or town has a cash for cans system.
  2. Get rid of metal hangers. While you can’t recycle metal hangers in your blue bin, you can bring them into a local dry cleaner, who will likely take them off your hands. Ask about any discounts or cash back for turning in metal hangers.
  3. Recycle food containers. Coffee tins, vegetable cans, aluminum foil and bakeware are all recyclable in your blue bin.[3]
    • Get rid of all the contents and rinse the containers with water before recycling.
    • Remove food scraps and oils as well.
  4. Collect household hardware like brass and copper. Sort out old home furnishings like keys, door handles, light fixtures and scraps from plumbing pipes, gutters, air conditioners and more.[4]
    • While brass isn’t the highest priced item at a scrap yard, the return can quickly add up because of how dense the metal can be.

Sorting Your Recyclables

  1. Use a magnet and see if it sticks. If a magnet sticks to the metal is is ferrous, and if it doesn’t it is non-ferrous. A standard magnet from your fridge will work perfectly for this test.
    • Non-ferrous metals include copper, aluminum and brass.
    • Steel and iron, which is a ferrous metal.
    • Copper, brass, aluminum, stainless steel and bronze are very valuable to recycling centers and scrap yards.
  2. Check recycling guidelines and regulations. Most recycling pick-up companies accept metal, so unless the metal you have is valuable, recycle it in your blue bin. You can make the most money on aluminum, brass and copper at the scrap yard.
    • Bronze, cast iron, steel and tin are all recyclable in the blue bin.
  3. Clean your metals. Make sure that all the metals that you are recycling are thoroughly cleaned and scrubbed off debris and food particles. Empty out cans and remove labels if need be.
    • Cleaning will help you get more money at a scrap yard because that’s less labor that they have to do themselves.

Taking Metals to the Scrap Yard

  1. Call multiple nearby scrap yards. Get pricing for the metals you have and ask how long each scrap yard will honor the prices. Be specific about the amount of each type of metal you have so you can accurately shop around.[5]
    • iScrap is an app and online directory where you can find the nearest scrap yards and their information.
    • Some scrap yards offer pick-up service at a cost. Ask ahead of time how much it will cost to have the materials collected as well as how much the materials are worth.
  2. Sort out your metals. Start by separating out ferrous from non-ferrous metals. Depending on the amount of metal you have, you can also sort out stainless steel, copper, aluminum, lead, brass and bronze.[6]
    • You cannot have other recyclable materials with your metals if you’re going to a scrap yard. Having paper, cardboard, wood, plastic or glass in your pile may result in the entire pile being rejected.
  3. Recycle wiring. Copper or aluminum insulated wiring doesn’t have to be stripped, but doing so will make you double or triple the amount of money if you’re taking it to a scrap yard. Purchase a wire stripper to get the job done.[7]
    • Wire strippers can cost anywhere from $10 to more than $100. If you have a small bundle of wire to strip, a less expensive tool should suffice, but if you have a large load a more sophisticated tool will help.



Tips

  • Check out metal prices online to see whether or not you should be recycling for profit.
  • Note that what can and cannot be recycled depends on your local recycling capacities.
  • Almost all metals are recyclable, but it mostly depends on where and how they get recycled.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ https://www.americangeosciences.org/critical-issues/faq/how-does-recycling-save-energy
  2. ↑ http://www.technologystudent.com/despro2/drink7.htm
  3. ↑ http://www.wm.com/thinkgreen/what-can-i-recycle.jsp
  4. ↑ http://earth911.com/eco-tech/basics-recycling-scrap-metal-money/
  5. ↑ https://iscrapapp.com
  6. ↑ http://encorerecyclers.com/getting-ready-to-recycle-your-scrap-metal/
  7. ↑ https://iscrapapp.com/blog/5-common-mistakes-to-avoid-when-scrapping-metal/
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