Scrap

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For the Canadian documentary film, see Scrap (film)."Scrapping" redirects here. Not to be confused with Scraping."Scrap metal" redirects here. For other uses, see Scrap Metal (disambiguation).For the grade of tobacco, see List of tobacco products § Smokeless tobacco.
Piles of scrap metal collected for the World War II effort, circa 1941 Allegheny Ludlum Steel Corp Scrap Piles.jpg
Piles of scrap metal collected for the World War II effort, circa 1941
Collection of leftover scrap metal items Collection of leftover scrap metal items.jpg
Collection of leftover scrap metal items

Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered metals, 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.

Contents

Scrap recycling is important for creating a more sustainable economy or creating a circular economy, using significantly less energy, the scrap recycling industry is a significant source of employment, from collection and processing to manufacturing using recycled materials and having far less environmental impact than producing metal from ore. Metal recycling, especially of structural steel, ships, used manufactured goods, such as vehicles and white goods, is a major industrial activity with complex networks of wrecking yards, sorting facilities, and recycling plants. The industry includes both formal organizations and a wide range of informal roles, with waste pickers and other informal economy roles around the world playing a critical role in sorting through scrap.

Processing

The "organized chaos" of a scrapyard Autowreckers.jpg
The "organized chaos" of a scrapyard

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 (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, although many scrap yards that deal in large quantities of scrap usually do not, often selling entire units such as engines or machinery 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 before entering. Many scrapyards also sell bulk metals (stainless steel, etc.) by weight, often at prices substantially below the retail purchasing costs of similar pieces.

A scrap metal shredder 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 it 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.

British police investigating possibly-stolen metal at a scrapyard Day 56 - West Midlands Police tackling metal theft.jpg
British police investigating possibly-stolen metal at a scrapyard

Thieves sometimes sell stolen items to scrapyards. Copper pipes and wiring, bronze monuments and aluminium siding have all been targets of metal theft, with the number of thefts increasing as prices rise. [1] Manhole covers have also been stolen. [2] [3] [4] In the 1970s, the term "newsjacking" was coined to describe the theft of newspapers for sale to scrap dealers. [5] [6]

Resources

Loading scrap gondolas in Eugene, Oregon Scrap Metal (Eugene, Oregon).jpg
Loading scrap gondolas in Eugene, Oregon

Scrap prices may vary markedly over time and in different locations. Prices are often negotiated between 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 , 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 websites, blogs, and search engines, scrapping is often referred to as a hand and labor-intensive job. Taking apart and separating metals is important to making more money on scrap, tips like using a magnet to determine ferrous and non-ferrous materials 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.

Urban mining

Collected scrap metal on barge in Stockholm in course of water transportation and recycling (2023) Scrap metal on barge in Stockholm (by Ropsten road and rail bridges).jpg
Collected scrap metal on barge in Stockholm in course of water transportation and recycling (2023)

This term is used to describe the recovery of "dormant" materials that once served a purpose in society but have become disused since. For example, large amounts of metal are buried underground as part of the provision of basic services including telecoms. Infrastructure, buildings and equipment stored or lying dormant in this way accounted for 28% of Sweden's copper use in 2021. In the same period, one sixth of the cables installed in Sweden's telecoms came from harvesting via urban mining. In particular this involved copper, aluminium, iron and steel. [7] Figures for this are issued by SGU, a Swedish government body responsible for geological survey of bedrock, soil and groundwater.

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 and the Mayapuri radiological accident were incidents involving radioactive materials. Toxic materials such as asbestos, and toxic metals such as beryllium, cadmium, lead and mercury may pose dangers to personnel, as well as contaminating materials intended for metal smelters.

Many specialized tools used in scrapyards are hazardous, such as the alligator shear, which cuts metal using hydraulic force, compactors, scrap metal shredder, and vacuum.

Benefits of recycling

Pile of shredded scrap in Norway Veolia Miljo Metall (2881088183).jpg
Pile of shredded scrap in Norway
Scrap railway line repurposed as farm fencing corner post Fence post.jpg
Scrap railway line repurposed as farm fencing corner post

According to research conducted by the US Environmental Protection Agency, recycling scrap metals can be quite beneficial to the environment. Using recycled scrap metal in place of virgin iron ore can yield: [8]

Every ton of new steel made from scrap steel saves:

Energy savings from other metals include:

Metal recycling industry

Scrap metal rusts in the snow (Finland) 2013 e visiting-scrap-metal-site-at-akaa-finland ore-e-refineries c-none q 4416x3312 scrap-metal-recycle img.JPG
Scrap metal rusts in the snow (Finland)

The metal recycling industry encompasses a wide range of metals. The more frequently recycled metals are scrap steel, iron (ISS), lead, aluminum, copper, stainless steel, and zinc. There are two main categories of metals: ferrous and non-ferrous. Metals that contain iron in them are known as ferrous.

Metals without iron are non-ferrous.

Non-ferrous metals also include precious and exotic metals:

OSHA guidelines should be followed when recycling any type of scrap metal to ensure safety. [9]

Ferrous metal recycling

A pile of steel scrap in Brussels, waiting to be recycled CompactedSteelScraps.jpg
A pile of steel scrap in Brussels, waiting to be recycled

Ferrous metals are able to be recycled , with steel being one of the most recycled materials in the world. [10] Ferrous metals contain an appreciable percentage of iron and the addition of carbon and other substances creates steel.

Description

The Universal Symbol for Recyclable Steel Recycling-Code-40.svg
The Universal Symbol for Recyclable Steel
The CEN Symbol for Recyclable Steel CEN recycling steel.svg
The CEN Symbol for Recyclable Steel

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 and the associated sharp decline in automobile production in the US explains the over-100% calculation). [11] A typical appliance is about 75% steel by weight [12] and automobiles are about 65% steel and iron. [13]

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 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. [14] According to the International Resource Panel's Metal Stocks in Society report, 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 7,085 kilograms (15,620 lb) (about 860 million people in 2005).

Basic oxygen steelmaking (BOS) uses 25–35% recycled steel to make new steel. BOS steel usually contains lower concentrations of residual elements such as copper, nickel, and molybdenum, and is, therefore more malleable than electric arc furnace (EAF) steel, and is often used to make automotive fenders, tin cans, 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. It is used to make structural beams, plates, reinforcing bar, and other products that require little cold working. [15] Downcycling 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. [16] Recycling one metric ton (1,000 kilograms) of steel saves 1.1 metric tons of iron ore, 630 kilograms of coal, and 55 kilograms of limestone. [17]

Types of scrap used in steelmaking

Ship breaking

Ship breaking operations on Staten Island (c. 1973) VIEW FROM CARTERET, NJ, ACROSS THE ARTHUR KILL TO STATEN ISLAND SCRAPYARD AND SHIP GRAVEYARD - NARA - 551997.jpg
Ship breaking operations on Staten Island (c. 1973)

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 shipbreaking, often using manual methods that were hazardous to workers and the environment. International regulations now dictate the treatment of old ships as sources of hazardous waste, so shipbreaking has returned to ports in more developed countries. In 2013, about 29 million tons of scrap steel were 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, 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. [19] Scrap recycling also helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions and conserves energy and natural resources. For example, scrap recycling diverts 135 million short tons (121,000,000 long tons; 122,000,000 t) of materials away from landfills. Recycled scrap is a raw material feedstock for nearly 60% of steel made in the US, almost 50% of the copper and copper alloys produced in the US, 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. [20]


See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metal</span> Type of material

A metal is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typically ductile and malleable. These properties are the result of the metallic bond between the atoms or molecules of the metal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Recycling</span> Converting waste materials into new products

Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the properties it had in its original state. It is an alternative to "conventional" waste disposal that can save material and help lower greenhouse gas emissions. It can also prevent the waste of potentially useful materials and reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reducing energy use, air pollution and water pollution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slag</span> By-product of smelting ores and used metals

Slag is a by-product of smelting (pyrometallurgical) ores and recycled metals. Slag is mainly a mixture of metal oxides and silicon dioxide. Broadly, it can be classified as ferrous, ferroalloy or non-ferrous/base metals. Within these general categories, slags can be further categorized by their precursor and processing conditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ship breaking</span> Disposal process to get parts or scrap

Ship-breaking is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships either as a source of parts, which can be sold for re-use, or for the extraction of raw materials, chiefly scrap. Modern ships have a lifespan of 25 to 30 years before corrosion, metal fatigue and a lack of parts render them uneconomical to operate. Ship-breaking allows the materials from the ship, especially steel, to be recycled and made into new products. This lowers the demand for mined iron ore and reduces energy use in the steelmaking process. Fixtures and other equipment on board the vessels can also be reused. While ship-breaking is sustainable, there are concerns about its use by poorer countries without stringent environmental legislation. It is also labour-intensive, and considered one of the world's most dangerous industries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metal theft</span> Theft of items for the value of their constituent metals

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 metals like gold and silver, the metals most commonly stolen are non-ferrous metals such as copper, aluminium, brass, and bronze. However, even cast iron and steel are seeing higher rates of theft due to increased scrap metal prices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wrecking yard</span> Place for storage and dismantling of used automobiles

A wrecking yard, scrapyard or junkyard is the location of a business in dismantling where wrecked or decommissioned vehicles are brought, their usable parts are sold for use in operating vehicles, while the unusable metal parts, known as scrap metal parts, are sold to metal-recycling companies. Other terms include wreck yard, wrecker's yard, salvage yard, breaker's yard, dismantler and scrapheap. In the United Kingdom, car salvage yards are known as car breakers, while motorcycle salvage yards are known as bike breakers. In Australia, they are often referred to as 'Wreckers'.

In metallurgy, non-ferrous metals are metals or alloys that do not contain iron in appreciable amounts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electronic waste</span> Discarded electronic devices

Electronic waste describes discarded electrical or electronic devices. It is also commonly known as waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) or end-of-life (EOL) electronics. Used electronics which are destined for refurbishment, reuse, resale, salvage recycling through material recovery, or disposal are also considered e-waste. Informal processing of e-waste in developing countries can lead to adverse human health effects and environmental pollution. The growing consumption of electronic goods due to the Digital Revolution and innovations in science and technology, such as bitcoin, has led to a global e-waste problem and hazard. The rapid exponential increase of e-waste is due to frequent new model releases and unnecessary purchases of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), short innovation cycles and low recycling rates, and a drop in the average life span of computers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aluminium recycling</span> Reuse of scrap aluminium

Aluminium recycling is the process in which secondary aluminium is created from scrap or other forms of end-of-life or otherwise unusable aluminium. It involves re-melting the metal, which is cheaper and more energy-efficient than the production of aluminum from raw bauxite via electrolysis of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) during the Hall–Héroult and Bayer processes.

Landfill mining and reclamation (LFMR) is a process which excavates and processes solid wastes which have previously been landfilled. The process aims to reduce the amount of landfill mass encapsulated within the closed landfill and/or temporarily remove hazardous material to allow protective measures to be taken before the landfill mass is replaced. In the process, mining recovers valuable recyclable materials, a combustible fraction, soil, and landfill space. The aeration of the landfill soil is a secondary benefit with regard to the landfill's future use. The combustible fraction is useful for power generation. The overall appearance of the landfill mining procedure is a sequence of processing machines laid out in a functional conveyor system. The operating principle is to excavate, sieve and sort the landfill material.

There is no national law in the United States that mandates recycling. State and local governments often introduce their own recycling requirements. In 2014, the recycling/composting rate for municipal solid waste in the U.S. was 34.6%. A number of U.S. states, including California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, and Vermont have passed laws that establish deposits or refund values on beverage containers while other jurisdictions rely on recycling goals or landfill bans of recyclable materials.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vehicle recycling</span> Dismantling of vehicles for spare parts

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 for its business outlets including wrecking yard, auto dismantling yard, car spare parts supplier, and recently, auto or vehicle recycling. Vehicle recycling has always occurred to some degree but in recent years manufacturers have become involved in the process. A car crusher is often used to reduce the size of scrapped vehicles for simplified transportation to a steel mill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natural resource economics</span> Supply, demand and allocation of the Earths natural resources

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aircraft recycling</span> Recycling industry for aircraft

Aircraft recycling is the process of scrapping and disassembling retired aircraft, and re-purposing their parts as spare parts or scrap. Airplanes are made of around 800 to 1000 parts that can be recycled, with the majority of them made from metal alloys and composite materials. The two most common metal alloys are aluminum and titanium and the main composite material is carbon fiber.

References

  1. ↑ Schwartz, Emma (27 March 2008). "Price Hikes Lead to Rash of Metal Thefts". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  2. ↑ "China manhole thefts prove deadly". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 29 January 2004. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  3. ↑ Muir, Hugh (25 October 2004). "Manhole covers vanish in the night". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  4. ↑ "10,000 manhole covers vanish - Fingers pointed at Growing craze for Drugs, SNAP lottery". The Telegraph. Kolkata: ABP Group. 7 September 2004. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  5. ↑ "Word of the Year 2017: Shortlist". Oxford Languages. 0 Oxford University Press. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  6. ↑ "Meaning of newsjacking in English". Lexico. Oxford University Press/Dictionary.com. 2020. Archived from the original on June 12, 2020. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  7. ↑ "SGU – Urban Mining". www.sgu.se. Retrieved 2023-09-05.
  8. ↑ "Benefits of Recycling Scrap Metal" . Retrieved 2011-04-04.
  9. ↑ "OSHA Guidelines for Recycling Scrap Metal". Global Trade Metal Portal.
  10. ↑ Hartman, Roy A. (2009). "Recycling". Encarta. Archived from the original on 2008-04-14.
  11. ↑ "Steel Recycling Rates at a Glance" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-02-15. Retrieved 2010-02-20.
  12. ↑ "Recycling steel appliances". Stell Recycling Institute. 2014. Retrieved 2017-04-06.
  13. ↑ "End-of-life vehicle recycling process" . Retrieved 2016-01-18.
  14. ↑ "Facts About Steel Recycling". Archived from the original on 2009-08-25. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
  15. ↑ "Steel" . Retrieved 2009-07-13.
  16. ↑ M.A. Reuter; K. Heiskanen; U. Boin; A. Van Schaik; E. Verhoef; Y. Yang; G. Georgalli, eds. (November 2005). "13" (Book). The metrics of material and metal ecology: harmonizing the resource, technology, and environmental cycles. Vol. 16. Elsevier. p. 396. ISBN   978-0-444-51137-9.{{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)
  17. ↑ "Information on Recycling Steel Products". WasteCap of Massachusetts. Archived from the original on 2007-10-11. Retrieved 2007-02-28.
  18. ↑ "Ferrous Scrap Metal" . Retrieved 2011-04-24.
  19. ↑ Archived January 16, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  20. ↑ Archived January 13, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
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