Recycling Scrap Metal From A Commercial Operation

Recycling is important and offers some benefits to the environment and sometimes to your wallet. Collecting aluminum cans and selling them is a great way to make a few dollars but what about scrap from a commercial business? Often it can be sold to the recycler as well, and the income from it can help offset some cost for the company.

What Kind of Metal can be Recycled?

Most metal that is used in manufacturing or commercial operations has some value. Steel, aluminum, copper, brass, and most other metals can be recycled, but some alloys or mixed metals are not accepted for recycling. The idea of recycling is to reuse the material and to make sure it works the way it should. It should be pure. Some recyclers will take what they call dirty metal, that is metal that is mix with another type of metal, but that practice is limited.

How Scrap Is Sold

In most cases, scrap metal is stockpiled until the price is reasonable or there is no more room to store it. A recycling company will come with a truck and crane that picks the metal up in a big claw. They load the truck as full as possible and then haul the scrap away for you. The truck is weighed going to the year and again coming out so they can determine the weight of the scrap you had. The recycler will pay a specific price per pound for the scrap. Your profit might be higher or lower than someone else's. It depends on the deal you made with the recycler.

Selling Scrap Directly

You can haul scrap metal to the recycler and sell it directly if you would rather. If you have small amounts to take in, it isn't hard, but if you have a lot, it can be tough. Having a trailer that will hold it and truck to haul the weight legally is essential and can be very costly. Loading the scrap often requires a loader or a crane and then unloading at the recycler means having a crane on the truck or a dump body. Again, the cost of a truck like this would be pretty impractical for most businesses.

Hiring A Scrap Hauling Company

Another option is to hire a third party scrap hauler to come and get the material from you and take it in. The downside here is that you are going to have to pay for the truck and driver either hourly, a flat fee, or a percentage of the load. If the price is better at the recycler having the scrap hauled in, it might be worth it but double check because if it isn't any better, you might as well let the recycler come and get the material for you.

Contact an industrial scrap metal cleanup service for more help.

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