Here’s why scrap metal is valuable and why you should pay attention. You just might make some cash in the process.
January is typically a time of year when, in addition to new year’s resolutions, people often decide to start making some changes to their homes – from do-it-yourself improvement projects to more serious home remodeling work that have been in the planning stages for a while.
If that’s the case, and you’re already starting to think about everything from purchasing paint for certain room to new plants for your garden or new outdoor furniture for your patio, keep something else in mind: scrap metal.
Scrap metal remains one of the most valuable products that consumers and businesses can recycle today. In part that’s because there’s a high demand for quality scrap metal today among manufacturers. A booming economy increases consumer demand for a host of products that manufacturers are eager to build, and using recycled metals enables them to hold down their manufacturing costs.
At the same time, scrap metal is valuable because it’s something that’s easy to find, from your home to your office. And this year, if you’re giving serious consideration to some DIY home improvement projects, think about the things you want to replace that may contain scrap.
From appliances to batteries, from cans to clothes hangers, metal truly is everywhere in our homes, which is why manufacturers are so eager to get access to recycled scrap so they can keep turning out new household items that everyone loves and buys.
And definitely make a note to recycle the items made out of metal that you want to replace because recycling metal is vitally important to help keep limited supplies from ending up wasted in landfills.
And it’s also a good way for consumers and businesses to make money by selling these items.
Why is Recycling Scrap Metal is Important? And Why Scrap Metal is Valuable?
When consumers think about recycling and the benefits it provides to our environment, they often make sure their cans, plastic bottles, newspapers and cardboard boxes get dutifully placed in their municipal recycling bin.
What they may not recognize, though, is that some of the most important common items you can recycle are the ones containing scrap metal. The benefits of increased recycling rates for metals are both environmental and economic.
Recycling all your scrap metal items, rather than throwing them out, plays a major role in promoting our environment. When products containing or made of scrap metal get hauled off to landfills, it’s known they also contain toxins like mercury and lead, which can seep into the ground or any nearby water, contaminating both.
Recycling scrap, on the other hand, is a proven environmental winner that keeps these metals out of community landfills and instead enables experienced recycling firms like GLE Scrap Metal to process and recycle all base and precious metals brought to them, which are then sold to manufacturers for re-use.
And that’s another key reason why recycling scrap metal is so important: using recycled scrap is considerably more cost-effective to manufacturers than having to purchase brand new metals obtained through the far more expensive process of mining for virgin ore to make new metals from scratch.
Recycling not only uses up far less of our natural resources – from land to water to electricity – but the savings provided to manufacturers lets manufacturers hold down costs, and pass on those savings to consumers.
Those are key reasons why scrap metal has become a booming industry, creating thousands of jobs and bringing millions in new tax revenue to cities and towns. Recyclers play a vital role in the growth in our economy, supplying crucial metals for everything from the manufacturing of automobiles or household goods, to the equipment needed at construction sites or for new road infrastructure projects.
And it’s not just in the United States. Across the globe, developing nations that are investing heavily in new urban development and expanded infrastructure are also in need of recycling metals for local and community projects. There’s an international market for recycled scrap, and the laws of supply and demand make them very valuable today.
That’s why it’s so important to increase recycling rates for scrap metal.
How Can Consumers Find Scrap Metal to Sell?
When someone learns about the importance of recycling scrap metal, they might think about the metal in their old cars, or the scrap that’s easy to find at construction sites.
They might not initially realize that scrap metal is also very common – in their home or office.
And scrap metal can be recycled for cash payments, putting money in your pocket to help pay for your DIY projects, while also allowing you to contribute to an ongoing and expanding green movement.
Scrap metal is common to find at particular businesses. Construction companies often have tons of steel beams from structures that are being built. Electricians use a lot of metal wiring and plumbers have a lot of copper piping. Different trade industries are a great source for finding scrap.
But you don’t have to drive around looking for construction sites or electricians’ offices to find unwanted scrap. Check your own home or office first.
In fact, selling common scrap metal around your home is easy and something that your entire family can work on together. You may be surprised to learn how many items in your home are made from copper, steel, brass, and iron, which are also metals that can be recycled and sold for profit.
And if you’re planning on a remodeling project and were expecting to throw away those items, be sure not to discard the ones made of metal, and instead arrange to recycle them by contacting a recycling firm like GLE Scrap Metal.
And if you’re not sure where to look, here are some common household places where you’re very likely to find items made of metal that are ideal for recycling.
What Household Items Contain Metal?
Let’s start with a very popular place in your home – your kitchen.
The most common kitchen appliances, from your refrigerator to your microwaves, have copper wires. Your stove is made of metal as well, and there are smaller items to look for, from iron or copper pots and pans to stainless steel silverware to the aluminum foil you use to wrap food in.
Stepping into your living room, there are likely to be a lot of items made from aluminum: lamp bases, frames, and air-conditioner units among them. Outside your home, if you’re thinking about replacing your gutters, those are also a good source for scrap.
In fact, any electronic devices can be a good source for scrap metal. That can range from your washers or dryers to the fixtures in your bathroom, which may have copper wiring and pipes for plumbing. Any shelves made of metal can also be recycled. And do you have a stainless steel sink? That can be recycled as well.
You’ll also want to look in your bathroom for brass faucets or copper pipes and tubing in your sinks. Most water pipes inside homes are made from copper tubing.
And if you have a ceiling fan you want to replace, you can scrap the motor from it. The ceiling fan motor may have a copper coil inside it.
And if you have an attic or garage where you store older items, take a look at what you’ve got there. Everything from old chairs and tables to lamps and even Christmas ornaments may contain metal. In your garage, look around for rusty power tools, screws, bicycles – even any old musical instruments that your kids no longer want. Anything that you don’t need or plan to replace should be checked first to see if it contains metal.
If it does contain metal, set it aside to be recycled. And the more you find, the better.
The same is true if you take a walk into your backyard. If you’ve got older iron patio furniture that you want to replace, that’s scrap metal. The same is true of lawn mowers, metal swings, and iron railings.
Look in particular for scrap metals containing copper. You can often find copper wires attached at the base of your TV monitor, or in large appliances like washing machines, air conditioner units, dishwashers, and freezers. Those are a great source of steel, but they’re also are likely to have large and bulky copper wires inside the back.
Even smaller appliances, like coffee makers and blenders, have copper wires in them as well.
As you’re searching through your home, keep in mind that scrap metal is a valuable resource because of its many potential uses. What may seem like junk to be discarded can actually be successfully recycled and made into a new product.
Conclusion
The reason why scrap metal is valuable is because of a vibrant and booming global economy; that means we can expect more private and government investments in everything from improving urban infrastructure to constructing new buildings.
That increases the need for more metals, which is why there’s a need for more consumers and businesses to bring their used scrap to an experienced firm like GLE Scrap Metal, which performs environmentally-friendly processing and recycling of all base and precious metals.
This family-owned and operated business will purchase, process, and re-integrate all recyclable base metals, which are supplied to domestic mills and global end-users to be transformed into new products.
To learn more, contact GLE Scrap Metal at 855-SCRAP-88 and request a quote.
