![Collection of leftover scrap metal items](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Collection_of_leftover_scrap_metal_items.jpg)
Scrap consists of
recyclable
Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...
materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike
waste
Waste (or wastes) are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use. A by-product, by contrast is a joint product of relatively minor economic value. A waste prod ...
, scrap
has monetary value, especially recovered
metal
A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...
s, and non-metallic materials are also recovered for recycling. Once collected, the materials are sorted into types — typically metal scrap will be crushed, shredded, and sorted using mechanical processes.
Scrap recycling is important for creating a more
sustainable economy
Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...
or creating a
circular economy
A circular economy (also referred to as circularity and CE) is a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. CE aims ...
, using significantly less energy and having far less environmental impact than producing metal from
ore
Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically containing metals, that can be mined, treated and sold at a profit.Encyclopædia Britannica. "Ore". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 7 Apr ...
. Metal recycling, especially of
structural steel
Structural steel is a category of steel used for making construction materials in a variety of shapes. Many structural steel shapes take the form of an elongated beam having a profile of a specific cross section. Structural steel shapes, sizes, ...
,
ships
A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...
, used manufactured goods, such as
vehicles
A vehicle (from la, vehiculum) is a machine that transports people or cargo. Vehicles include wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles (motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, mobility scooters for disabled people), railed vehicles (trains, trams), wate ...
and
white goods
A major appliance, also known as a large domestic appliance or large electric appliance or simply a large appliance, large domestic, or large electric, is a non-portable or semi-portable machine used for routine housekeeping tasks such as cookin ...
, is a major industrial activity with complex networks of
wrecking yard
A wrecking yard (Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian English), scrapyard (Irish, British and New Zealand English) or junkyard (American English) is the location of a business in dismantling where wrecked or decommissioned vehicles are brough ...
s, sorting facilities and recycling plants.
Processing
![autowreckers](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Autowreckers.jpg)
Scrap metal originates both in business and residential environments. Typically a "scrapper" will advertise their services to conveniently remove scrap metal for people who don't need it.
Scrap is often taken to a
wrecking yard
A wrecking yard (Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian English), scrapyard (Irish, British and New Zealand English) or junkyard (American English) is the location of a business in dismantling where wrecked or decommissioned vehicles are brough ...
(also known as a scrapyard, junkyard, or breaker's yard), where it is processed for later melting into new products. A wrecking yard, depending on its location, may allow customers to browse their lot and purchase items before they are sent to the
smelters
Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a c ...
, although many scrap yards that deal in large quantities of scrap usually do not, often selling entire units such as
engine
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy.
Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...
s or
machinery
A machine is a physical system using power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to natural biological macromolecule ...
by weight with no regard to their functional status. Customers are typically required to supply all of their own tools and labor to extract parts, and some scrapyards may first require waiving
liability for
personal injury
Personal injury is a legal term for an injury to the body, mind or emotions, as opposed to an injury to property. In common law jurisdictions the term is most commonly used to refer to a type of tort lawsuit in which the person bringing the suit (t ...
before entering. Many scrapyards also sell bulk metals (
stainless steel
Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's corros ...
, etc.) by weight, often at prices substantially below the retail purchasing costs of similar pieces.
A
scrap metal shredder
A scrap metal shredder, also sometimes referred to as a metal scrap shredder, is a machine used for reducing the size of scrap metal. Scrap metal shredders come in many different variations and sizes.
Applications
Some examples of scrap metal m ...
is often used to recycle items containing a variety of other materials in combination with steel. Examples are automobiles and white goods such as refrigerators, stoves, clothes washers, etc. These items are labor-intensive to manually sort things like plastic, copper, aluminum, and brass. By shredding into relatively small pieces, the steel can easily be separated out magnetically. The non-ferrous waste stream requires other techniques to sort.
In contrast to wrecking yards, scrapyards typically sell everything by weight, instead of by item. To the scrapyard, the primary value of the scrap is what the smelter will give them for it, rather than the value of whatever shape the metal may be in. An auto wrecker, on the other hand, would price exactly the same scrap based on what the item does, regardless of what it weighs. Typically, if a wrecker cannot sell something above the value of the metal in it, they would then take it to the scrapyard and sell it by weight. Equipment containing parts of various metals can often be purchased at a price below that of either of the metals, due to saving the scrapyard the labor of separating the metals before shipping them to be recycled.
![Day 56 - West Midlands Police tackling metal theft](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Day_56_-_West_Midlands_Police_tackling_metal_theft.jpg)
Thieves sometimes sell stolen items to scrapyards. Copper pipes and wiring, bronze monuments and
aluminium siding have all been targets of
metal theft
Metal theft is "the theft of items for the value of their constituent metals". It usually increases when worldwide prices for scrap metal rise, as has happened dramatically due to rapid industrialization in India and China. Apart from precious m ...
, with the number of thefts increasing as prices rise.
Manhole covers
A manhole cover or maintenance hole cover is a removable plate forming the lid over the opening of a manhole, an opening large enough for a person to pass through that is used as an access point for an underground vault or pipe. It is designed to ...
have also been stolen. In the 1970s, the term "newsjacking" was coined to describe the theft of newspapers for sale to scrap dealers.
Resources
![Scrap Metal (Eugene, Oregon)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Scrap_Metal_%28Eugene%2C_Oregon%29.jpg)
Scrap prices may vary markedly over time and in different locations. Prices are often negotiated among buyers and sellers directly or indirectly over the Internet. Prices displayed as the market prices are not the prices that recyclers will see at the scrap yards. Other prices are ranges or older and not updated frequently. Some scrap yards' websites have updated scrap prices.
In the US, scrap prices are reported in a handful of publications, including ''
American Metal Market
''American Metal Market'' (AMM) is an online provider of industry news and metal pricing information for the U.S. steel, nonferrous and scrap markets. Products include a daily publication available electronically, live news on the publication's ...
'', based on confirmed sales as well as reference sites such as Scrap Metal Prices and Auctions. Non-US domiciled publications, such as ''The Steel Index'', also report on the US scrap price, which has become increasingly important to global export markets. Scrap yards directories are also used by recyclers to find facilities in the US and Canada, allowing users to get in contact with yards.
With resources online for recyclers to look at for scrapping tips, like web sites, blogs, and search engines, scrapping is often referred to as a hands and labor-intensive job. Taking apart and separating metals is important to making more money on scrap, for tips like using a magnet to determine ferrous and non-ferrous materials, that can help recyclers make more money on their metal recycling. When a magnet sticks to the metal, it will be a ferrous material, like steel or iron. This is usually a less expensive item that is recycled but usually is recycled in larger quantities of thousands of pounds. Non-ferrous metals like copper, aluminum, and brass do not stick to a magnet. Some cheaper grades of stainless steel are magnetic, other grades are not. These items are higher priced commodities for metal recycling and are important to separate when recycling them. The prices of non-ferrous metals also tend to fluctuate more than ferrous metals so it is important for recyclers to pay attention to these sources and the overall markets.
Hazards
Great potential exists in the scrap metal industry for accidents in which a hazardous material present in scrap causes death, injury, or environmental damage. A classic example is
radioactivity in scrap; the
Goiânia accident
The Goiânia accident was a radioactive contamination accident that occurred on September 13, 1987, in Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil, after a forgotten radiotherapy source was stolen from an abandoned hospital site in the city. It was subsequent ...
and the
Mayapuri radiological accident
Mayapuri is an industrial locality in West Delhi. It used to be a major hub of heavy metal and small scale industries, but following recent government sanctions, most of the heavy metal industries moved out. The place is now a combination of r ...
were incidents involving radioactive materials. Toxic materials such as
asbestos
Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...
, and toxic metals such as
beryllium
Beryllium is a chemical element with the symbol Be and atomic number 4. It is a steel-gray, strong, lightweight and brittle alkaline earth metal. It is a divalent element that occurs naturally only in combination with other elements to form mi ...
,
cadmium
Cadmium is a chemical element with the symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, silvery-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12, zinc and mercury. Like zinc, it demonstrates oxidation state +2 in most of ...
, and
mercury
Mercury commonly refers to:
* Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun
* Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg
* Mercury (mythology), a Roman god
Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to:
Companies
* Merc ...
may pose dangers to personnel, as well as contaminating materials intended for metal
smelters
Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a c ...
.
Many specialized tools used in scrapyards are hazardous, such as the
alligator shear An alligator shear, historically known as a lever shear and sometimes as a crocodile shear, is a metal-cutting shear with a hinged jaw, powered by a flywheel or hydraulic cylinder. Alligator shears are generally set up as stand-alone shears; howeve ...
, which cuts metal using hydraulic force,
compactors
A compactor is a machine or mechanism used to reduce the size of material such as waste material or bio mass through compaction. A trash compactor is often used by a home or business to reduce the volume of trash it produces. A baler-wrapper com ...
,
scrap metal shredder
A scrap metal shredder, also sometimes referred to as a metal scrap shredder, is a machine used for reducing the size of scrap metal. Scrap metal shredders come in many different variations and sizes.
Applications
Some examples of scrap metal m ...
, and
vacuum
A vacuum is a space devoid of matter. The word is derived from the Latin adjective ''vacuus'' for "vacant" or "void". An approximation to such vacuum is a region with a gaseous pressure much less than atmospheric pressure. Physicists often dis ...
.
Benefits of recycling
![Fence post](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Fence_post.jpg)
According to research conducted by the
US Environmental Protection Agency
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...
, recycling scrap metals can be quite beneficial to the environment. Using recycled scrap metal in place of virgin iron ore can yield:
*75%
savings in energy.
*90% savings in
raw materials
A raw material, also known as a feedstock, unprocessed material, or primary commodity, is a basic material that is used to produce goods, finished goods, energy, or intermediate materials that are feedstock for future finished products. As feedst ...
used.
*86% reduction in
air pollution
Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different types ...
.
*40% reduction in water use.
*76% reduction in
water pollution
Water pollution (or aquatic pollution) is the contamination of water bodies, usually as a result of human activities, so that it negatively affects its uses. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and groundwater. Water ...
.
*97% reduction in
mining waste
In mining, tailings are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction (gangue) of an ore. Tailings are different to overburden, which is the waste rock or other material that overli ...
s.
Every ton of new steel made from scrap steel saves:
*1,115 kg of
iron ore
Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...
.
*625 kg of coal.
*53 kg of limestone.
Energy savings from other metals include:
*Aluminium savings of 95% energy.
*Copper savings of 85% energy.
*Lead savings of 65% energy.
*Zinc savings of 60% energy.
Metal recycling industry
![2013 e visiting-scrap-metal-site-at-akaa-finland ore-e-refineries c-none q 4416x3312 scrap-metal-recycle img](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/2013_e_visiting-scrap-metal-site-at-akaa-finland_ore-e-refineries_c-none_q_4416x3312_scrap-metal-recycle_img.JPG)
The metal recycling industry encompasses a wide range of metals. The more frequently recycled metals are scrap steel, iron (ISS), lead, aluminium, copper, stainless steel and zinc. There are two main categories of metals: ferrous and non-ferrous. Metals which contain iron in them are known as ''ferrous''.
Metals without iron are ''non-ferrous''.
* Common non-ferrous metals are copper, brass, aluminum, zinc, magnesium, tin, nickel, and lead.
*Usable
coin
A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...
s can be deposited in banks. Damaged US coins can be redeemed for money via the
Mutilated Coin Redemption Program The Mutilated Coin Redemption Program is a program of the United States Mint that allows holders of damaged United States coins to exchange them for usable money.
Some clients redeem large quantities (tons) of coins that are recovered from scrappin ...
.
Non-ferrous metals also include precious and exotic metals:
*
Precious metal
Precious metals are rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical elements of high economic value.
Chemically, the precious metals tend to be less reactive than most elements (see noble metal). They are usually ductile and have a high lustre. ...
s are metals with a high market value in any form, such as gold, silver, and
platinum group
The platinum-group metals (abbreviated as the PGMs; alternatively, the platinoids, platinides, platidises, platinum group, platinum metals, platinum family or platinum-group elements (PGEs)) are six noble, precious metallic elements clustered t ...
metals.
*Exotic metals contain rare elements such as cobalt, mercury, titanium, tungsten, arsenic, beryllium, bismuth, cerium, cadmium, niobium, indium, gallium, germanium, lithium, selenium, tantalum, tellurium, vanadium, and zirconium. Some types of metals are radioactive. These may be "
naturally occurring
A natural product is a natural compound or substance produced by a living organism—that is, found in nature. In the broadest sense, natural products include any substance produced by life. Natural products can also be prepared by chemical sy ...
" or formed by nuclear reactions. Metals that have been exposed to radioactive sources may also become radioactive in settings such as medical environments, research laboratories, and nuclear power plants.
OSHA guidelines should be followed when recycling any type of scrap metal to ensure safety.
Ferrous metal recycling
Ferrous metal
In chemistry, the adjective Ferrous indicates a compound that contains iron(II), meaning iron in its +2 oxidation state, possibly as the divalent cation Fe2+. It is opposed to "ferric" or iron(III), meaning iron in its +3 oxidation state, suc ...
s are able to be
recycled
Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...
, with steel being one of the most recycled materials in the world.
Ferrous metals contain an appreciable percentage of
iron
Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...
and the addition of carbon and other substances creates
steel
Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...
.
Description
![CEN recycling steel](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/CEN_recycling_steel.svg)
In the United States, steel containers, cans, automobiles, appliances, and construction materials contribute the greatest weight of recycled materials. For example, in 2008, more than 97% of structural steel and 106% of automobiles were recycled, comparing the current steel consumption for each industry with the amount of recycled steel being produced (the
late 2000s recession
The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At t ...
and the associated sharp decline in automobile production in the US explains the over-100% calculation).
A typical appliance is about 75% steel by weight and automobiles are about 65% steel and iron.
The steel industry has been actively recycling for more than 150 years, in large part because it is economically advantageous to do so. It is cheaper to recycle steel than to mine iron ore and manipulate it through the production process to form new steel. Steel does not lose any of its inherent
physical properties
A physical property is any property that is measurable, whose value describes a state of a physical system. The changes in the physical properties of a system can be used to describe its changes between momentary states. Physical properties are o ...
during the recycling process, and has drastically reduced energy and material requirements compared with refinement from iron ore. The energy saved by recycling reduces the annual energy consumption of the industry by about 75%, which is enough to power eighteen million homes for one year. According to the
International Resource Panel
The International Resource Panel is a scientific panel of experts that aims to help nations use natural resources sustainably without compromising economic growth and human needs. It provides independent scientific assessments and expert advice on ...
's
Metal Stocks in Society report
The report Metal Stocks in Society: Scientific Synthesis was the first of six scientific assessments on global metals to be published by the International Resource Panel (IRP) of the United Nations Environment Programme. The IRP provides independ ...
, the per capita stock of steel in use in Australia, Canada, the European Union EU15, Norway, Switzerland, Japan, New Zealand and the US combined is (about 860 million people in 2005).
Basic oxygen steelmaking
Basic oxygen steelmaking (BOS, BOP, BOF, or OSM), also known as Linz-Donawitz steelmaking or the oxygen converter processBrock and Elzinga, p. 50. is a method of primary steelmaking in which carbon-rich molten pig iron is made into steel. Blowin ...
(BOS) uses 25–35% recycled steel to make new steel. BOS steel usually contains lower concentrations of residual elements such as
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
,
nickel
Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow to ...
, and
molybdenum
Molybdenum is a chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42 which is located in period 5 and group 6. The name is from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'', which is based on Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lea ...
, and is therefore more
malleable
Ductility is a mechanical property commonly described as a material's amenability to drawing (e.g. into wire). In materials science, ductility is defined by the degree to which a material can sustain plastic deformation under tensile stres ...
than
electric arc furnace
An electric arc furnace (EAF) is a furnace that heats material by means of an electric arc.
Industrial arc furnaces range in size from small units of approximately one-tonne capacity (used in foundries for producing cast iron products) up to ab ...
(EAF) steel, and is often used to make
automotive fender
Fender is the American English term for the part of an automobile, motorcycle or other vehicle body that frames a wheel well (the fender underside). Its primary purpose is to prevent sand, mud, rocks, liquids, and other road spray from being t ...
s,
tin can
A steel can, tin can, tin (especially in British English, Australian English, Canadian English and South African English),
steel packaging, or can is a container for the distribution or storage of goods, made of thin metal. Many cans re ...
s,
industrial drums, or any product with a large degree of cold working. EAF steelmaking uses almost 100% recycled steel. This steel contains greater concentrations of residual elements that cannot be removed through the application of oxygen and
lime
Lime commonly refers to:
* Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit
* Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide
* Lime (color), a color between yellow and green
Lime may also refer to:
Botany ...
. It is used to make
structural beam
A beam is a structural element that primarily resists loads applied laterally to the beam's axis (an element designed to carry primarily axial load would be a strut or column). Its mode of deflection is primarily by bending. The loads applied to ...
s,
plate
Plate may refer to:
Cooking
* Plate (dishware), a broad, mainly flat vessel commonly used to serve food
* Plates, tableware, dishes or dishware used for setting a table, serving food and dining
* Plate, the content of such a plate (for example: ...
s,
reinforcing bar
Rebar (short for reinforcing bar), known when massed as reinforcing steel or reinforcement steel, is a steel bar used as a tension device in reinforced concrete and reinforced masonry structures to strengthen and aid the concrete under tension. ...
, and other products that require little cold working.
Downcycling
Downcycling, or cascading, is the recycling of waste where the recycled material is of lower quality and functionality than the original material. Often, this is due to the accumulation of tramp elements in secondary metals, which may exclude the ...
of steel by hard-to-separate impurities such as copper or tin can only be prevented by well-aimed scrap selection or dilution by pure steel. Recycling one
metric ton
The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton (United States c ...
(1,000
kilogram
The kilogram (also kilogramme) is the unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI), having the unit symbol kg. It is a widely used measure in science, engineering and commerce worldwide, and is often simply called a kilo colloquially ...
s) of steel saves 1.1 metric tons of
iron ore
Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...
, 630 kilograms of
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dea ...
, and 55 kilograms of
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
.
Types of scrap used in steelmaking
*
Heavy melting steel Heavy melting steel (HMS) or heavy melting scrap is a designation for recyclable steel and wrought iron. It is broken up into two major categories: HMS 1 and HMS 2, where HMS 1 does not contain galvanized and blackened steel, whereas HMS 2 does. Th ...
– Industrial or commercial scrap steel greater than 6 mm thick, such as plates, beams, columns, channels; may also include scrap machinery or implements or certain metal stampings
*Old car bodies – Vehicles with or without interiors and their original wheels
*
Cast iron
Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...
– Cast iron bathtubs, machinery, pipe, and engine blocks
*
Pressing steel – Domestic scrap metal up to approx. thick. Examples - "White goods" (fridges, washing machines, etc.), roofing iron, water heaters, water tanks, and sheet metal offcuts
*
Reinforcing bar
Rebar (short for reinforcing bar), known when massed as reinforcing steel or reinforcement steel, is a steel bar used as a tension device in reinforced concrete and reinforced masonry structures to strengthen and aid the concrete under tension. ...
s or
mesh
A mesh is a barrier made of connected strands of metal, fiber, or other flexible or ductile materials. A mesh is similar to a web or a net in that it has many attached or woven strands.
Types
* A plastic mesh may be extruded, oriented, ex ...
– Used in the construction industry within concrete structures
*
Turnings
Swarf, also known as chips or by other process-specific names (such as turnings, filings, or shavings), are pieces of metal, wood, or plastic that are the debris or waste resulting from machining, woodworking, or similar subtractive (material-r ...
– Remains of drilling or shaping steels. Also known as "borings" or "swarf"
*
Manganese steel
Mangalloy, also called manganese steel or Hadfield steel, is an alloy steel containing an average of around 13% manganese. Mangalloy is known for its high impact strength and resistance to abrasion once in its work-hardened state.
Material proper ...
– Non-magnetic, hardened steel used in the mining industry, cement mixers, rock crushers, and other high-impact and abrasive environments.
*
Rails
Rail or rails may refer to:
Rail transport
*Rail transport and related matters
*Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway
Arts and media Film
* ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini
* ''Rail'' ( ...
– Rail or tram tracks
Ship breaking
The hulls of ships, with any usable equipment salvaged and removed, can be broken up to provide scrap steel. For a time countries in south Asia carried out most ship breaking, often using manual methods that were hazardous to workers and the environment. International regulations now dictate treatment of old ships as sources of hazardous waste, so ship breaking has returned to ports in more developed countries. In 2013, about 29 million tons of scrap steel was recovered from broken ships. Some of the scrap can be reheated and rolled to make products such as concrete reinforcing bars, or the scrap may be melted to make new steel.
Economic role
United States
The scrap industry was valued at more than $90 billion in 2012, up from $54 billion in 2009
balance of trade
The balance of trade, commercial balance, or net exports (sometimes symbolized as NX), is the difference between the monetary value of a nation's exports and imports over a certain time period. Sometimes a distinction is made between a balance ...
, exporting $28 billion in scrap commodities to 160 countries. Since 2010, the industry has added more than 15,000 jobs, and supports 463,000 workers, both directly and indirectly. In addition, it generates more than $10 billion in revenue for federal, state, and local governments. Scrap recycling also helps reduce
greenhouse gas emissions
Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and lar ...
and conserves energy and natural resources. For example, scrap recycling diverts of materials away from
landfill
A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the waste ...
s. Recycled scrap is a raw material feedstock for nearly 60% of steel made in the US, for almost 50% of the copper and copper alloys produced in the US, for more than 75% of the US paper industry's needs, and for 50% of US aluminum. Recycled scrap helps keep air and water cleaner by removing potentially hazardous materials and keeping them out of landfills.
Image gallery
File:I Need Your Scrap Metal Art.IWMPST14749.jpg, Poster for World War II scrap collection campaign
File:Scrap and salvage depot, Butte, Mont.1a35037v.jpg, Scrap depot (Butte, Montana
Butte ( ) is a consolidated city-county and the county seat of Silver Bow County, Montana, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. The city covers , and, according to the ...
, United States)
File:ANewFlyerBusUnderAllThatJunkInSimsMetalScrapYard.jpg, This pile of mixed scrap includes an old bus
File:Steel recycling bales.jpg, Compressed bales consisting mostly of tin can
A steel can, tin can, tin (especially in British English, Australian English, Canadian English and South African English),
steel packaging, or can is a container for the distribution or storage of goods, made of thin metal. Many cans re ...
s
File:Locomotives_stacked_for_scrapping.jpg, British Rail
British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
locomotives stacked awaiting scrapping
File:Stacked cars in city junkyard will be used for scrap - nara - 552739 retuschiert.jpg, Flattened cars stacked near Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
(Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, United States)
File:Scrap_car_bodies.jpg, Scrap car bodies
File:"A compact car".jpg, A single compacted car (Finland)
File:Car Cubes (3463695956).jpg, Stacked cubed cars (Calgary, Alberta
Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Canadian Prairies, Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,30 ...
, Canada)
File:CompactedSteelScraps.jpg, Compacted scrap pile (Austria)
File:Varia (15966651796).jpg, Rhine River scrap barge (Basel, Switzerland
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS), ...
)
File:ВП погрузка металлолома.jpg, Scrap transfers (Feodosiya
uk, Феодосія, Теодосія crh, Kefe
, official_name = ()
, settlement_type=
, image_skyline = THEODOSIA 01.jpg
, imagesize = 250px
, image_caption = Genoese fortress of Caffa
, image_shield = Fe ...
, Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...
)
File:Bremen Hafen E Schrottumschlag.JPG, Scrap awaiting export (Bremen, Germany
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...
)
File:North Africa 2007 163 Truck.jpg, Scrap metal hauler (Libya
Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...
)
File:Deritend Car Park.jpg, Partition made of compacted cars (Birmingham, England
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
)
File:Dublin 6.jpg, A train
In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pul ...
awaits scrappage (Dublin, Ireland
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 cen ...
)
File:NYC subway cars used as artificial reef.jpg, New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...
cars being dumped at sea to enlarge an artificial reef
An artificial reef is a human-created underwater structure, typically built to promote marine life in areas with a generally featureless bottom, to control erosion, block ship passage, block the use of trawling nets, or improve surfing.
Many re ...
(South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
, United States)
File:Scrap paper dealer in Chandigarh.jpg, Scrap paper dealer (Chandigarh
Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which al ...
, India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
)
See also
*Aircraft boneyard
An aircraft boneyard or aircraft graveyard is a storage area for aircraft that are retired from service. Most aircraft at boneyards are either kept for storage with some maintenance or have their parts removed for reuse or resale and are then sc ...
*Aluminium recycling
Aluminium recycling is the process by which scrap aluminium can be reused in products after its initial production. The process involves simply re-melting the metal, which is far less expensive and energy-intensive than creating new aluminium thr ...
* British Metals Recycling Association
*Recycling by material Recycling can be carried out on various raw materials. Recycling is an important part of creating more sustainable economies, reducing the cost and environmental impact of raw materials. Not all materials are easily recycled, and processing recycla ...
*Ship breaking
Ship-breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for either a source of parts, which can be sold for re-use, or for the extraction ...
*Vehicle recycling
__NOTOC__
Vehicle recycling is the dismantling of vehicles for spare parts. At the end of their useful life, vehicles have value as a source of spare parts and this has created a vehicle dismantling industry. The industry has various names fo ...
*Wrecking yard
A wrecking yard (Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian English), scrapyard (Irish, British and New Zealand English) or junkyard (American English) is the location of a business in dismantling where wrecked or decommissioned vehicles are brough ...
References
External links
*
Steel Recycling Institute - Steel Recycling Information, News, and Resources
How Scrap Is Recycled: Video
{{Authority control
Iron
Recycling by material
Waste management