“Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.” The phrase of our childhoods. Growing up, we have always been taught the importance of eliminating our waste and reducing our carbon footprint, but we often have a harder time putting these ideas into practice outside of our homes. Many of our current industries are wasting so much more aluminum, copper, and steel than they realize. This is not only a waste of valuable and precious resources, but it is also a missed opportunity on boosting our economy. Below, we have compiled a list of 10 unique industries that should look into recycling some of their old, scrap metal as well as how they can benefit from scrap metal recycling.
1: Auto Manufacturers
This is one of the more common industries that takes part in scrap metal recycling. In an auto plant, there is bound to be a few defective pieces that come out on the line, or maybe there is simply an excess number of parts that have been made. Or perhaps you have gotten a new piece of machinery to replace another outdated piece of equipment on the line. What if we told you that these defective parts and pieces of machinery are not the waste of money that auto plants believe them to be?
It’s true that they may be defective, but they are still made of valuable aluminum and stainless steel that can be taken to a scrap yard to get recycled. These defective pieces of machinery and auto parts are stuff of gold in the steel-making industry, which heavily relies on scrap metal from industries like auto plants to help them create new items and materials for manufacturing.
Therefore, while your auto plant will certainly be losing pieces of machinery and auto parts that could have been vital to making your profit, you can still boost the economy with their products by taking these old parts to the scrap yard. It’s like how the old saying goes: when one door closes, another opens.
2: Ship and Plane Manufacturers
Like auto manufacturers, ship and plane manufacturing groups also produce a tremendous amount of scrapped copper, aluminum, and stainless steel from defective parts and faulty machinery. These pieces can also be salvaged and taken to a scrapyard to be recycled.
By doing this, not only are you supplying materials for the steel-making industry that they heavily rely on, but you are also helping them do less mining for virgin ore—a process that is incredibly taxing on the steel-making industry as well as the environment.
3: Body Shops
These auto repair shops are always full of old auto parts that are damaged or no longer work like they’re supposed to. Some of the items include but are not limited to aluminum rims, engine starters, catalytic converters, and even old vehicular wiring. These parts are chock full of reusable metal that can be taken to a scrapyard to be recycled. You can even bring in the old frames of cars as well.
4: Roofing Companies
Many roofing companies will often have left over metal sheets from roof installation that are made of tin and aluminum. These sheets may have been damaged from weathering and need to be replaced. Instead of having them take up space in the back of your truck, take them over to a scrap yard shop that can recycle these old pieces of metal into a reusable, affordable product.
5: Food Packaging
There are many food packaging companies and manufacturers here that make defective stainless steel and cast-iron cooking items such as knives, mixing bowls, and frying pans all the time. Same with packaging companies with their aluminum cans or bags. Again, the products may be flawed but the material they’re made of is not. These kitchen ware items, and food packages might be small, but they can add up to a significant amount of scrap metal over time. That is why it is important to go ahead and consider selling these items to your scrap yard. Also, it is worth noting here that you can recycle the old metal machine parts from these manufacturing plants like you could at a plant that produces cars, planes, or ships too.
6: Heating and Air Conditioning
Working for an HVAC company often involves replacing worn out units that no longer work in homes, offices, or even warehouses. These units typically have aluminum bodies, copper coils and wiring, as well as steel motors. To a scrap metal recycler, these old HVAC units are a gold mine of recyclable metal and their materials can be used for a variety of products.
7: Plumbing
While working on a home or an office, plumbers will often come across broken cast iron pipes and copper lines that need to be replaced when installing or repairing faucets, toilets, tubs, and hot water heaters. All these old parts have lots of valuable metal that can be taken to a scrap yard to get processed to be reused.
8: Electric Companies
Electricians will often come across copper wires when working on repairing an electrical circuit in homes and offices. These companies can take their fragmented pieces of these wires, strip them of their plastic coating, and then take them to a scrap metal recycler to get sorted and processed in just a matter of days. While this process is a little bit lengthier, since scrap metal companies need to check to make sure these materials have not been stolen, it is still a worthwhile process.
9: Window and Door Instillation
Companies like these that focus on renovating or building homes and workspaces will find that they often come across old storm windows and screen doors. These both have a durable aluminum frame that can be stripped and taken to a scrap yard for recycling.
10: Construction
Like auto manufacturers, construction companies are often seen as the most reliable and common patron of scrap metal recycling plants. Some of the recurring places that this industry finds their aluminum, copper, and steel are in old buildings, bridges, and home furnishings.
In the process of demolishing and rebuilding, an enormous amount of junk and scrap metal gets produced from construction work. This is why we recommend construction companies invest in a roll-off scrap metal service for a more efficient pick up and drop off for their recyclable materials. This will ensure that we get the highest number of materials and you get the highest amount of money.
Why Scrap Metal Recycling?
The most lucrative answer to this question would be the fact that here at Roane Metals, we strive to give our customers the highest payout possible to make scrap metal recycling worth it. You are quite literally making money for something that you would otherwise throw away and get nothing for when you choose to come recycle with us. However, there are also two larger benefits to take your industry’s scrap metal over to Roane Metals. Not only are you supporting your local economy, but you are also saving your environment. By bringing your old scrap metal over to us, you are keeping dozens of toxic metals like mercury and lead out of our ecosystem as well as creating nearly 400 thousand jobs here in the U.S. More jobs equal more stable income and a more stable income means more room to shop and buy your products. So really, by recycling your scrap metal you gain so much more than what you give. So next time you come across a defected product or you’re starting a new demo, contact Roane Metals Group and take your scrap metal down to one of our two locations in Rockwood or Crossville, Tennessee.