Recycling is important for the environment, and if you have the ability to collect metal items, you might even make some money by selling them to a recycling center. Here are things to know about metal recycling.

How Recycling Helps The Environment

By recycling metal, things like soda cans, mattress springs, and old appliances are kept out of the landfill. City dumps fill up fast, and then new land has to be used just to bury trash. Reducing the amount of waste that goes to the landfill is a goal of many cities, which is why recycling is often implemented in ways that make it easy to get rid of your metal trash for free.

When metal is recycled and reused, there is a reduced need to harvest the raw materials from the earth. Raw materials need to be conserved so future generations have access to them.

What Types Of Metal Can Be Recycled

Almost all metals can be recycled, including copper, iron, brass, aluminum, and steel. The most valuable metal for recycling is copper. Steel and aluminum may not be as valuable, but there is more of it. Metal can be divided into two main categories. One is ferrous, and it contains iron. The other is nonferrous. You can tell the difference with a magnet since a magnet sticks to ferrous metal.

How Is Metal Recycled

A metal recycling center receives metal from a variety of sources. Commercial, construction, and industrial operations may drop off metal waste that's new or used. Some people drop off metal items just to get rid of them and don't bother cleaning or stripping the metal, while others may want to get paid, so they get the metal items in a condition that brings the most money. Even rusted metal can be recycled, so a metal recycling center receives metal in all kinds of conditions.

The recycling center has to sort all the metal by type, which can be done by machine. Then they have to strip off waste so all that's left is metal. Once that's done, the metal is melted down and formed into building materials, such as sheets and tubes.

How You Can Make Money With Metal Recycling

You can make small amounts of money by saving all your soda and beer cans if you drink a lot of the beverages, but you'll make the most money if you actively hunt down waste metal. You can run ads that let people know you pick up metal items for free from people who want to get rid of their clutter and junk.

You'll need to stockpile your finds until you have enough to make a run to the recycling center. While you wait, you can work on prepping the metal so you get the most money. This involves separating the metal by type because if you lump all your metals together, you might get paid what the lowest paying metal is worth.

Next, strip off everything that isn't metal. This might require knocking concrete chunks off rebar, stripping insulation off of wiring, and breaking down appliances.

Metal recycling is a lot of work if you're doing it for extra cash, but it's easy if you just want to help the environment and get rid of metal junk around your house. Contact a company like Durable Metals for more information.

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