scrap

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Scrap is a term used to describe recyclable materials left over from every manner of product consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Often confused with waste, scrap in fact has significant monetary value. Overall, the scrap industry processes more than 145,000,000 short tons (129,464,286 long tons; 131,541,787 t) of recyclable material each year into raw material feedstock for industrial manufacturing around the world. In 2007 the United States' exported over 10 billion dollars worth of scrap steel.^[1]

Role in the American economy

The scrap industry contributed $65 billion in 2006 and is one of the few contributing positively to the U.S. balance of trade, exporting $15.7 billion in scrap commodities in 2006. This imbalance of trade has resulted in rising scrap prices during 2007 and 2008 within the United States.^[2] Scrap recycling also helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions and conserves energy and natural resources. For example, scrap recycling diverts 145,000,000 short tons (129,464,286 long tons; 131,541,787 t) of materials away from landfills. Recycled scrap is a raw material feedstock for 2 out of 3 pounds of steel made in the U.S., for 60% of the metals and alloys produced in the U.S.,ddd for more than 50% of the U.S. paper industry’s needs, and for 33% of U.S. aluminum. Recycled scrap helps keep air and water cleaner by removing potentially hazardous materials and keeping them out of landfills.

Role in the Canadian Economy

The scrap industry is widely embraced in Canada, as recycling is important in the efforts to reduce consumption and help decrease the negative impact that humans have on the planet. There are scrapyards in every province in Canada, mainly located in major urban centers. In Vancouver, British Columbia one of the most integral yards is Capital Salvage^[3] which is the only yard accepting metal from homeless people. This not only improves the social welfare of the lower East side of Vancouver, but diverts several hundred tons of scrap metal from the landfills that otherwise would not be recycled. Labeled the "people's scrapper" Capital Salvage combines the values of charity with environmental conservation to improve the community which it serves.

How scrap is processed

Piles of scrap metal being utilized for the World War II effort, circa 1941

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.

In contrast to wreckers, scrapyards typically sell everything by weight, rather than 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 the exact 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. As an example, a scrapyard in Arcata, California sells automobile engines for $0.25 per pound, while aluminum, of which the engine is mostly made, sells for $1.25 per pound.^{[citation needed]} Scrap prices are reported in a handful of U.S. publications, including American Metal Market, based on confirmed sales.

Risks

Great potential exists in the scrap metal industry for accidents in which a hazardous material which is present in scrap causes death, injury or environmental damage. A classic example is radioactivity in scrap; see the Goiânia accident for an example of an accident involving radioactive material which entered the scrap metal industry and some details of the behavior of contaminating chemical elements in metal smelters. The general nature of many of the tools used in scrapyards such as Alligator shear, which cut metal using hydraulics give themselves the need for safety.

Gallery

A pile of scrap.

A scrapyard.

Scrap from cans

Compacted scraps pile

See also

• Recyclable waste
• Ship breaking
• Metal theft

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Scrap metal

Look up scrap in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

This article's external links may not follow Wikipedia's content policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links. (September 2009)

• Scrap at the Open Directory Project

Institutes

• ISRI Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc (ISRI)
• BMRA The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA)

Reference Compendium

• Scrap market price report Updated monthly
• Scrap Metal Prices and Information Updated daily