Recycling metal is a £5.6 billion industry within the UK, processing ferrous and non-ferrous scrap metal into important secondary raw materials to smelt into new metals. Worldwide, over 400 million tonnes of metal is recycled each year which helps to protect the environment and save energy. Using secondary raw materials means that we are using fewer natural resources which could be used to make new metal compounds.
Metal can be infinitely recycled, which makes it one of the most desirable scrap commodities today. Like any other industry, recycling tends to be based on market need. So whilst all metals can be recycled, only a few actually are; these include aluminium, tin, zinc, copper, iron, steel and lead. Those metals that can’t be recycled are contaminated with radiation and subsequently handled as hazardous waste instead.
Once metal is collected, it goes through a sorter to remove any contaminates such as non metal items. The metal is then washed and further separated by type. The sorted metals are then sent to various foundries for smelting and reuse.
Recycled metal contributes more than any other product to the UK’s targets for waste prevention through recovering ‘end of life’ products:
- Packaging: approximately two billion aluminium and steel cans are recycled each year
- Vehicles: over 75% of a car is metal, around half the material processed by metal recycling shredders come from vehicles
- Batteries: the metal recycling industry is recycling most lead acid vehicle and industrial batteries
LSPS recycle all grades of ferrous and non ferrous metals, in fact we recycle as much of the contents of our skips as possible, reducing the waste that gets put into landfill. Read our advice on skips to do your bit for the environment.
Thinking of hiring a skip? Read our additional tips and sizes to suite your job.
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