There are lots of people who want to collect scrap metal to bring in some extra money. They also do it so that they can recycle the metals that they are collecting. They usually take the scrap metal that they find into a scrap recycler.
There are many people who do this for extra cash and for fun. They like to do scrap metal collection as a way to clean up the city, as well. There are people who also do it because they feel that recycling is necessary for a better tomorrow.
This article will help you to learn more about the scrap metal industry and collecting scrap metal. It will let you know some trivia about the different metals. If you need to know more, you can do more research.
Information About Scrap Metal Collection
- Aluminum – Aluminum was discovered in 1825 but has become the most abundant metal on earth. It is one of the most highly recycled metals, as well. Although it is very abundant, it has been recycled so much that more than two-thirds of aluminum is still in circulation.
Aluminum is the material that most soda cans and beer cans are made of, so there is plenty to recycle. You can make a high of two dollars a pound, but an average of about fifty-six cents a pound to recycle it. It is so inexpensive because there is an abundance of it.
- Recycling Saves Energy – If you use the energy that is saved from recycling just one aluminum can will run a 100-watt bulb continuously for about twenty hours. It could run a tv for two hours and a computer for three hours. This saves a lot of energy in this country by not using new aluminum.
America needs to do better at recycling so that they can save time, money, and energy. They are wasting raw materials when things could be recycled instead. These raw materials could be used for newer technology, but we are using them for things like aluminum cans instead.
- Steel is the World’s Most Recycled Metal – It can be recycled indefinitely without breaking down. It takes about sixty percent less energy to recycle steel than it does to create it from raw ore. Most things that are made from steel today have at least some recycled materials in them.
Steel can be used for just about anything, which makes it easier to recycle. Steel pipes, railroad ties, and more can be recycled and used again to make new items. This saves time, money, and energy for people who need this product.
- Scrapping Your Car – You can recycle your car at a scrapyard instead of a junkyard. Doing this can save about 121 pounds of limestone, 138 pounds of coal, and about two and a half tons of iron ore. That is close to about three tons of raw materials that can be saved by recycling your car.
Recycling your car can also help the environment by not having it sit in a junkyard somewhere. Although some cars can be used for spare parts, many of the cars will just sit there leaking products into the earth. If you want to save time, energy, and the earth, it is better to recycle your car.
- It Takes a Long Time for Cans to Decompose – It can take up to five hundred years for aluminum cans to decompose. On average, about two out of every three aluminum cans are recycled, nearly 65% of them. That is about 124,000 that are recycled every minute in the US.
Aluminum cans are separated from the rest of the recycled materials and then placed into bales. The bales are then sold to companies that will then make them into cans again. The can that you are using today can be recycled into another can within thirty days.
- Americans Waste a Lot of Steel – Besides not recycling their cars, Americans send enough steel to the landfills to make about forty thousand refrigerators. They could be recycling steel cans, old or broken appliances, as well as cars are the most common things that are thrown away rather than recycled.
If Americans were to recycle these items, they could save the equivalent of enough energy to power eighteen million homes for a year. Steel is the most recycled material in America, but they could be doing a better job. One scrap car could be enough steel to build about four steel utility poles.
- The United States is One of the Worst When it Comes to Recycling – America has only four percent of the population of the world, but they produce more than twelve percent of the world’s waste. That is more than even China and India, both of whom have a larger population. America needs to get better at recycling and reducing their waste to keep up with the rest of the world.
Americans recycle only about thirty-five percent of their waste compared to the rest of the world. Germany recycles about sixty-eight percent of their waste in comparison. Australia recycles about ninety-eight percent of their waste, making it one of the highest percentages.
- 98% of a Car Battery is Recyclable – Even though this is true, most people just throw their used car batteries into the landfill. This allows all the pollutants to seep into the ground, eventually getting into the groundwater. These pollutants can eventually affect the health of humans and the environment.
When the batteries corrode, they release chemicals that will soak into the ground. Because of this, our ecosystem is negatively affected and can die out because of the chemicals. You can tell where batteries have been piled together in an area because the ecosystem around it is dead.
- It Only Takes About 30 Days to Get a Recycled Aluminum Can Back on the Shelf – Aluminum cans are the fastest items to be recycled and used again. It only takes about 30 days for a can to be recycled and back on the shelf. Aluminum cans are also one of the most recycled items, so they save a lot of time, energy, and money to return on your shelf.
The average aluminum can on the shelf is at least fifty percent recycled materials. Twenty years ago, it took only nineteen cans to make a pound of aluminum. Nowadays, that number is twenty-nine because the cans are made lighter.
- The US is One of the World’s Most Prolific Copper Recyclers – The United States recycles so much copper that they could be used to make about twenty-five thousand Statues of Liberty. Copper has been used longer than most other metals, going back nearly ten thousand years into the past. In fact, a copper pendant was found in about 8700BC around northern Iraq.
Ancient Romans used copper from Cypress and called it the Metal of Cypress, which was then shortened to cyprium. This was later changed to coprum, which Americans then shortened to copper. This is just the revolution of the history behind the name of copper.
- America is Self-Sufficient in Copper – The United States ranks second in copper production, behind Chile. That means that we supply nearly eight percent of the world’s copper. Only Chile supplies more to the world.
About thirty-four percent of the copper we had in 2014 was recovered from recycled material. The rest of it was generated from newly mined ore. Nearly two-thirds of recycled copper is used for industries such as copper and brass mills, foundries, and ingot makers.
- Americans Throw Away Too Much Metal – The United States throws away more than a million tons of aluminum each year. This is enough every three months that an entire commercial air fleet could be made. In the last year, there were about thirty-six billion aluminum cans were sent to the landfill – these could have been worth nearly six hundred million dollars.
In the past twenty years, there have been nearly eleven million tons of aluminum cans that were worth more than twelve billion dollars in today’s market. There are aluminum products that can be recycled other than cans. You can recycle gutters, siding, window frames, foil, lawn furniture, and aluminum packaging.
Conclusion
Americans are wasting a lot of metal that could be sent to the recycling bin. We are doing well but could be doing so much more. We could save more energy by recycling our metals instead of mining more or using raw ore. Just recycling aluminum cans saves enough to power televisions for hours.
If we recycle cars and their components, such as car batteries, we can save the earth and the ecosystem. Chemicals from these components eventually get into the ground water and can make people sick. Recycling cars can also save time, money, and energy in the making of new cars.
Americans are one of the worst countries in the world when it comes to recycling. They are close to the last ones despite the fact that they produce the most trash compared to the other countries. They produce more trash than both India and China, even though they have larger population.
