Metal is a valuable material which can be recycled over and over again without degrading its properties, meaning it is still of high quality when reused. Therefore, it is important that all offices and homeowners recycle any metal, wherever possible.
The most recycled metals include:
- Copper
- Aluminium
- Brass
- Silver
- Gold
The Advantages of Recycling Metal
Recycling metal has many advantages, the main benefit being that it has value, people want to collect it and then sell it to recycling operations. While this is an obvious gain for businesses, recycling metal also has many positive impacts on the environment. For example, recycling metal allows us to preserve natural resources while using less energy to manufacture new products.
As well as this, recycling also releases less carbon dioxide (CO2) and other harmful gases into the environment as opposed to landfill. Therefore, if you want to do your bit to gain some money and help the environment along the way, we suggest you recycle all of your office waste, including metal.
How Is Metal Recycled?
Just like all other recycling materials, metal has its own recycling process:
Step 1 – Collection
Collection begins once all recycling bins are full. Some types of metal such as steel cans, tin and aluminium can be collected directly from the home or office. Other, larger items such as old appliances can be also collected or sent to a local recycling centre.
Step 2 – Sorting
Once your items have been collected and sent to the recycling centre, they will be sorted by metal type. This process may involve a large magnet, that is easily able to separate steel or other tests based on moisture, for example.
Step 3 – Processing and Shredding
After the sorting has taken place, shredding is carried out to further the process. Metals are shredded to ensure the next stage, melting, can be carried out as easily as possible.
Items are now ready for melting and remodelling.
Step 4 – Melting
The previous stage, shredding will have left the materials in a state where they can now be compressed into bales or cubes to make it easier for them to be transferred over to melting facilities.
From this, the metals are fed into a furnace where they are heated until they become molten. The molten metal is then poured into casters, moulds or billets to form ingots, which can weigh a significant amount.
Step 5 – Fabrication
Finally, once the metal has been poured into molds it is cooled and hardened, where it is then put into a machine that pushes and rolls it into flat sheets. After this, the metal can be used to manufacture new materials such as:
- Cans
- Appliances
- Piping and tubing
- Building materials
How Can Global Office Supplies Help?
Although we do not currently offer a metal recycling service, Global Office Supplies do offer toner recycling, paper shredding and waste collection and recycling and sustainability services. All of these services are free of charge to help your company reach its emissions targets and become eco-friendly.
