Scrap Metal Recycling Facts

The world around us is built from metal. This is especially true for Perth, also known as the City of Light and Western Australia’s largest, most formidable metropolis. Whether it’s the tin that holds our beverages, the steel reinforcement holding together the sky risers we work and live in, or the batteries in our electrical appliances, metal is a material that offers the human race an undeniable amount of applications and benefits.

One of the greatest benefits of metal is its ability to be recycled, giving practically any form of the material an opportunity to live again in another form. And why not? It’s now known that recycling a single aluminium can saves enough energy to power a TV for three hours. But the real value can be seen when considering that 850,000 tonnes of commercial and industrial waste was recovered through recycling in 2005 and 2006 in Western Australia alone, with steel contributing to 31% of the impressive figure.

Now that you have an idea about the importance of recycling, even if it’s one can of deodorant, let’s enjoy some more fascinating scrap metal recycling facts:

1. Recycling metal is great for both local economies and environments as it creates more jobs and reduces greenhouse emissions.

2. The recycling of one tonne of steel saves more than one tonne of iron ore, 500kg of coal, and 18kg of limestone.

3. Figuring out what type of metal you have for recycling is as easy as using a magnet – if the magnet sticks then you have steel and if it doesn’t then you have aluminium.

4. Beverage cans are usually made from aluminium, while tin cans for food are only 5% tin – the actual frame is made from steel.

5. Recycling metal directly contributes to the creation of new metal objects once the original items have reached the end of their lifespan.

6. Construction projects that facilitate the building of roads and bridges benefit greatly from the recycling of scrap metals such as iron and aluminium.

7. The transportation industry also uses a variety of recycled metal for refashioned motorbikes, bicycles, cars, aircrafts, and buses.

8. Scrap metals help with the storage and logistics of consumables across the globe – many shipping containers are actually made from refurbished metal.

9. When more industries utilise scrap metal, the mining sector needs to use less natural resources, positively impacting the environment as well.

10. Old aluminium has a much lower melting point than new aluminium, thus reducing the amount of energy needed to recycle the material.

11. Working with recycled metal lowers the amount of carbon emissions emitted through transport, mining, and smelting.

12. The home furniture and interior design sector can make use of recycled scrap metals for a wide variety of edgy applications.

13. When we recycle metal, we directly help with the emptying of overgrown landfill sites, resulting in positive impact on water supply and soil integrity.

14. Aluminium is actually created from an ore called Bauxite before being transformed into a white powder. This powder is smelted at a temperature of over 700 degrees to make the aluminium we know so well – a very costly and consuming process.

15. Light aluminium that makes up packaging is tricky to collect and often discarded in homes and businesses – an example of this is foil.

Australian Consolidated Metals and Machinery

AusCon is a specialist scrap metal collector and yer in Western Australia, with a scrap yard dedicated to the categorisation of a wide variety of metals. contact us for more information.