Ferrous Metal Recycling In 2010 the scrap metals industry recycled more than 54 million metric tons of ferrous metal. Of this, 19 million tons were exported, and the majority of the ferrous scrap is used to produce new steel and iron products in the U.S. Approximately 60% of the total raw steel produced in the U.S. is from scrap-fed electric arc furnaces, and requires about 60% less energy to process. By using recycled metals versus virgin materials in the production process, CO2 emissions are reduced by 58%. Recycling one car saves more than 2500 lbs of iron ore, 1400 lbs of coal, and 120 lbs of limestone. In the U.S., over 14 million cars were recycled in 2009, providing an estimated 14 million tons of shredded scrap metal.
Non-Ferrous Metal Recycling - Copper and Aluminum
Copper Recycling
Non ferrous scrap metal recycling also is a growing industry and has been in the news frequently because of copper tubing and scrap thefts with foreclosures and other sources. Copper alloy scrap provides about half of the copper consumed in the U.S. each year. The U.S. provides about 23% of the world's recovered copper. The U.S. recycles enough copper every year to provide the copper content for 26,000 Statues of Liberty.
Aluminum RecyclingStandard sized soda cans continue to be a major source of recycled aluminum in the U.S. If all the aluminum scrap produced in the U.S. were used solely to produce soda cans, the lined up cans would stretch 25 million miles - the distance from Earth to Venus. The U.S. recycled cans in 2010 saved the energy equivalent of 26 million barrels of gasoline, America's entire gas supply for three days. Energy saved by using recycled aluminum scrap versus virgin materials is 92%. Approximately 60% of the aluminum used in North America is from recycled content. In 2010 the U.S. scrap industry processed 4.6 million metric tons of aluminum, 1.8 million metric tons of copper, and 1.2 million metric tons of lead. The U.S. exported $16.7 billion worth of non-ferrous scrap in 2010 to over 100 countries.
Talway Recycling Centers process both ferrous and non-ferrous metals of all types and sizes for both consumers and industrial projects.
statistics courtesy of Scrap Magazine
Many people do this for a living. They will search around for people that are throwing away various types of metal products and they will gather the items and turn them in for money.
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With the huge amount of money that can be made by recycling precious metals from things like washers/dryers, aluminum cans, and junk cars, I can't believe that more people aren't doing it! I guess that just leaves more opportunity for us!
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