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Worldwide metal production is ascertained directly through
ore deposits from mining, smelting, and refining. What are secondary metals?
They are metals discarded through industrial and manufacturing operations or as
commercial products that are now obsolete. The benefit that recycling provides
is that we return these waste materials back into the general manufacturing so
they can be used for the production of new metal products, thus saving costs
and making things more efficient in general. The secondary metals industry is
involved in all aspects of this process, from locating scrap, to getting it to
a recycle facility and then re-using the material for new metal-based products.
What’s the rationale for determining if scrap metal is worth
recovering? Its potential for profit. In terms of the basic factors that
determine if a particular metal should be recycled, the following areas are
looked at:
- How
pure are the recovered products, what’s the market for the recycled
products like, and what is the true dollar value of the metal?
- How
much will it cost to collect and transport?
- How
much will it cost to sort and transform it into reusable metal?
- How
much will it cost to dispose of any residual material?
The advent of the industrial revolution in the late 19th
and early 20th centuries fueled the consumption of metals
significantly. During the 20th century, this trend continued and grew
exponentially. By the 1980’s, the annual
production of metals worldwide was a hundred times what it was in the 1880’s.
Naturally, this incredible rise in need for metals and the production of
metal-based products has led many people to question if there is enough metal
reserves in the world to keep up with demand. Is it sustainable? Is there an unending
amount of metals in the earth? No, on both accounts. Scrap metal recycling is a natural part of
the chain of use. Metal reserves are found, they are made into a usable form, a
product is manufactured from it, the product is used, discarded, and then the
metal is used again. It just makes ecological sense – it’s using the earth in a
smart way. With recycling, there is a huge amount of metals in use that will be
recoverable at some future point.
Aluminum recycling
is a large portion of the scrap metals industry. In 1993, in a survey of
Western countries, 28 percent of the total recycled scrap materials were made
up by aluminum. The others that were a significant part of the total included
copper, lead, molybdenum, tin, and zinc.
Scrap recycling is the process of recovering secondary
metals, and is subdivided into three different classes of metals. They are:
- Home
scrap: This is what remains after a primary metal product is
sold and is generated in a smelting or refining plant.
- New
or prompt scrap: This type of scrap can easily be reprocessed
for use in primary metal manufacturing, it is essentially the remains of
the general manufacturing process.
- Old
scrap: This is the type of recycling that we are most
familiar with. Old scrap is recovered from consumer goods that are no
longer being used. This could potentially include discarded, used, or
worn-out products. Also could include metal products rendered obsolete by
technological advances or production overruns.
In terms of product applications, metals are rarely used in
their pure and absolute form. It’s also tough and expensive to remove alloy
elements from metals, so usually the alloyed materials are recycled as alloyed
metals only. The various metals that make up the alloyed metal are not taken
out to be used in their pure state.
Scrap metal recycling makes economic sense. It also shows
our responsibility to the earth and to the efficient use of our precious
natural resources. If there’s one positive thing that is happening in this
area, it’s that the trend to recycle more continues.
Bio
Applied Recovery Systems Inc. is a privately held company
located in central Texas. They have been in the business of scrap metal chip processing and briquetting
since 1992, all to save companies money and help the process of recycling
aluminum, brass, copper, steel, and cast iron. Research and development will continue to be an
integral part of the Corporation's objective so as to better serve the chip processing needs of its
customers.
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