Metals have always been the most recycled material in the world. In fact, the making of steel requires recycled steel in the production of the raw material. Recycling metals saves energy and helps prevent the depletion of natural resources.

An entire industry has grown up around recycling metal. This is because everything that contains metal is intrisically valuable. It is in everything from the fillings in our teeth to the cars we drive. The key to effective recylcing is gather, sort, sell.

Metal Recycling Product Names

Recycled metals are devided into base metal categories such as aluminum, steel, cast iron, etc. These categories are further devided into specific products such as #2 copper pipe or lead batteries. This allows for specific prices for standardized scrap products throughout the industry. The definitions below include the Iron and Steel Recycling Institute (ISRI) code in parenthesis for reference. A more complete list of specifications can be located at http://www.isri.org

Metal Recycling businesses in your local area may not accept every category on the list. Sometimes, categories are combined to limit the separate storage areas for different materials, or may not be commonly seen in daily operations.

In general, recovered materials are most valuable when sorted according to base metal and grade. Mixed materals are generaly sold at the lowest rate material. So, for example, aluminum that contains screws and steel inserts will generally be purchased as iron/aluminum mix (at a significantly lower rate). In addition to sorting, workers must carefully remove any air bag canisters and sealed or pressurized items. These can include shock absorbers, tanks for propane and other gasses.

aluminum baseball/softball bats will be accepted. Canisters such as aerosol cans, fire extinguishers, propane tanks, beer kegs, freon tanks, oxygen and acetylene cylinders will generally not be accepted unless sheared in half so there no chance of explosionor contamination.

  1. auto air bag inflation cartridges and components are dangerous and must be kept out of recycled metals.
  2. detonators, butane lighters, CO2 cartridges, or similar dangerous objects will not be accepted.
  3. PCB’s or other toxic materials will not be accepted.
  4. Hypodermic needles or other biomedical waste will not be accepted.
  5. Ordnance scrap, ammunition cartridges or any type of munitions scrap will generally have to be negotiated with the buyer in advance.

Recovered Aluminum Products

Other aluminum alloys including 1100, 1200, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2017, 2024, 2036, 2117, 3002, 3003, 3004, 3005, 3102, 5005, 5052, 5182, 5252, 5454, 5457, 5657, 5754, 6009, 6010, 6022, 6053, 6061, 6063, 6082, 6111, 6262, 6463, 7003, 7004, 7021, 7072, 7116, 7129, A380.0, 383.0, 319.0, 356.0, A356.0 and B390.0

Recovered Brass Products

Other types of brass are known as Naval Brass, Machinery Brass and 85/15.

Recovered Copper Products

Recovered Lead Products

Recovered Precious Metals

steel recycling Products

Recovered Stainless Steel Alloys

Recovered Electronic Components and Assemblies

Computer Towers
Monitors
Motherboards
PCI, ISA and AGP cards
Memory Sticks
Printed circuit boards
Hard drives
Misc. Drives
Power Supplies
Processors
Printers
Computer Cables
Keyboards
Mice
Copiers
Servers
Main Frames
Laptops
Pocket Pc's

Recovered Exotic Material