Descriptions of Scrap metal

Scrap includes recyclable materials, usually metal, that are left over from the manufacture and consumption of products such as vehicle parts,construction supplies and leftover materials.Unlike waste, which has monetary value, especially recycled metals, non-metallic materials can also be recycled and reused.Once collected, the material is sorted typically metal scrap will be crushed,shredded and sorted using a mechanical process.Scrap recycling is important for creating a more sustainable economy or creating a circular economy, which uses far less energy and has a much lower environmental impact than producing metals from ore.Metal recycling, especially structural steel, ships, used manufactured goods such as automobiles and white goods, is a major industrial activity with a complex network of shipbreaking yards, sorting facilities and recycling plants.

Processing

Scrap metal originates in commercial and residential settings.Often, "scrap recyclers" will advertise their services as a convenient way to remove scrap metal for those who don't want it.Scrap is usually taken to a scrap yard (also known as a scrapyard, junkyard or shredder) where it is processed to be melted down into new products at a later date.Scrapyards, depending on their location,may allow customers to browse their lots and purchase items before sending them to the smelter, although many scrapyards that handle large amounts of scrap typically do not, often selling entire units such as engines or Machines are calculated by weight regardless of their functional status. Customers are often required to provide all their own tools and labor to extract parts, and some scrap yards may first request a release from personal injury liability before entering.Many scrap yards also sell bulk metal (stainless steel, etc.).

Scrap metal shredders are commonly used to recycle items that contain various other materials and steel.Examples include automobiles and white goods such as refrigerators,stoves, washing machines, etc.These items are labor-intensive, requiring humans to sort items such as plastic, copper, aluminum, and brass.Steel can be easily separated magnetically by crushing it into relatively small pieces.Non-ferrous waste streams require additional techniques for sorting.Unlike shipbreaking yards, scrapyards usually sell everything by weight rather than by item.For scrap yards, the primary value of scrap is what the smelter gives it,not whatever shape the metal might be in.Auto wreckers, on the other hand, will price the exact same scrap based on what the item does,no matter how much it weighs.Usually, if the wreckers can't sell something for more than the metal in it is worth, they take it to the scrap yard and sell it by weight.Equipment containing a variety of metal parts can often be purchased for less than any of those metals because scrapyards save the labor of separating the metals before shipping them for recycling.

Thieves will sometimes sell stolen items to the scrapyard.Copper pipes and wires,bronze monuments and aluminum siding are all targets of metal theft, and the amount stolen increases with prices.Manhole covers were also stolen.In the 1970s, the term "newsjacking" was used to describe the theft of newspapers to sell to scrap dealers.