Metal recycling myths.

People have used metal for thousands of years, and we’ve been recycling it just as long. Let’s look at some metal recycling urban legends.

Myth: Metal is a limited resource – we can’t recycle all the old metal we already used.

Fact: While some metals are indeed limited in supply (e.g., platinum and gold), there’s still plenty of scrap lying around.  

Myth: The resmelting process uses too much energy.

Fact: Modern smelters are extremely efficient, using far less energy than it takes to mine more metal from the ground. And more importantly, recycling reduces greenhouse emissions caused by mining.

Myth: Recycling is bad for the environment – it wastes all that energy.

Fact: Recycling is better for the environment than mining – it uses up to 95% less energy and produces far fewer greenhouse emissions. Also, recycling metal saves land from being mined or turned into waste dumps.

Myth: There’s no point in recycling because you can’t reuse scrap metal.

Fact: It depends on what you mean by ‘reuse’. I can reuse your car as a boat, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.  

While some scrap metal is too contaminated to use again, most of it can be recycled multiple times – just look at all the old cars still on the road.

Myth: Metal recycling uses up all our natural resources.

Fact: Recycling metal, like recycling anything else, saves natural resources and energy by reducing the need for mining or manufacturing more metal products. While it’s true that using recycled steel takes up to 95% less energy than using iron ore, most recycling counts as ‘industrial recycling’ – which actually makes use of waste materials and by-products of other manufacturing processes.

Myth: Metal recycling is a waste of time – the metal is so contaminated it’ll never be anything good anyway.

Fact: Actually, metal smelting plants work best with high purity feedstock (less than 0.2% impurities) – which is why cleanliness is key in metal recycling.

Myth: Metal recycling is a waste of money – you’re just paying people to take your garbage from you.

Fact: Actually, without recycling, there would be no incentive to reduce the amount of waste produced. People have been practising industrial recycling for centuries on a very large scale, so it’s really more accurate to call it ‘industrial ecology’ – a system where everything is 100% recycled.

Myth: Metal recycling only takes place in developing countries with lax environmental regulations.

Fact: In fact, most metal recycling plants are built and operated to comply with strict environmental regulations that would be illegal to ignore. Even so, recycling has yet to take off in some areas (e.g., Nigeria) due to economic reasons, not environmental ones.

Hopefully, this article will help you understand more about metal recycling and how it can benefit both the environment and industry.

Super Metal Recycling

345 Frankston – Dandenong Road, Dandenong South VIC 3175

(03) 9706 4909



source https://supermetal.com.au/metal-recycling-myths/

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