What Happens to Scrap Metal When it is Recycled?
Selling scrap metal to junkyards or recycling plants is a great way to de-junk your home and earn a bit of extra cash. It is relatively simple and incredibly convenient to sell your scrap to a scrap yard or recycling plant. But what happens to the scrap once it is out of your hands? Keep reading to learn more about the processes that scrap metal goes through when it is recycled at your local scrap metal yard!
Sorting 
Once scrap metal arrives in a facility, it needs to be prepared for recycling. The first step is to sort the metals into like groups. This is done by disassembling any large appliances or vehicles so that non-metal pieces can be removed, and metal parts can be organized in like groups. To help with this sorting process, magnets are often used to remove iron and iron-based metals. Non-iron metals are sorted according to weight and color.
Cleaning
Most scrap metal will come into the scrapyard still attached to non-metal pieces or are sometimes covered in adhesives, dirt, paint, or other waste products. All metals will thus be thoroughly cleaned to remove contaminants that will lower the quality of the final recycled product. Sometimes, the pieces will be sprayed off with water, and in other cases, they can only be purified by melting them down at extremely high heat.
Recycling and Repurposing
When the scrap metal has been thoroughly sorted and cleaned, it is ready to be made into usable metal once again. Generally, the cleaned and purified metals will be melted thoroughly and then cast into ingots – bricks of purified metal that is now ready to be used in manufacturing. Different metals will go through different purification and melting processes, with some being shredded before melting and others going through an electroforming process. Once the ingots are prepared, they are sold and delivered to a manufacturing plant for repurposing. The ingots provide high-quality material at a fraction of the cost of mining new unprocessed metals, making recycling and repurposing a worthwhile endeavor for all involved.
Scrap Metal Recycling in Walpole, MA
If you’re wondering whether you should recycle your scrap metal, just remember that doing so is good for the environment and good for your home. You’ll be dejunking at the same time as you are saving the planet! Curious about the process? Contact Allied Scrap Metal & Recycling or visit our scrap yard in Walpole, MA today!