Introduction
Metal recycling is the process of recovering scrap or waste metal and reprocessing the scrap metal into useful products in the form of raw material. This process helps to conserve the natural resources and reduces energy consumption. Metal recycling is one of the oldest, most essential and profitable businesses in the world.
Working Process
The process of metal recycling follows five core stages: Collection, Sorting, Shredding, Melting and Purification.
• Collection: The scrap metal needs to be collected for processing. This is normally done by company or agency that specializes in metal recycling. The collected scraps are brought to the facility where it is sorted in accordance to the type of metal.
• Sorting: The collected scraps and waste products are sorted according to its scrap metal type, such as aluminum, copper, steel or brass. Different recyclers and buyers have their own criteria for sorting scrap metals.
• Shredding: The collected and sorted materials are then converted into smaller particles or shavings in a process called shredding.
• Melting: The metals are then melted down in an extremely hot furnace. The liquid metal is then poured into a mold to form ingots, blocks or sheets.
• Purification: The final stage of the recycling process is purification. This is done to remove contaminants and impurities.
Benefits
• Environmental Benefit: One of the most obvious benefits of metal recycling is the fact that it is an environmentally friendly process. It helps conserve natural resources, decrease pollution, reduce energy consumption and generate revenue.
• Cost Benefit: Metal recycling is also cost-effective. The recycled metals can be cheaper than the original form, meaning that businesses and consumers can save money on their metal products.
• Greater Revenue: Metal recycling can generate a great amount of revenue. It is estimated that globally, metal recycling contributes to over $2 billion in annual revenue.
Conclusion
Metal recycling is an important process for businesses and consumers. It is an effective way to make use of the metals that may otherwise end up as waste and help conserve natural resources. Gathering and properly sorting the scrap metal is an important part of the chain and ultimately helps make the process more efficient and cost-effective. Metal recycling is not only beneficial to the environment and our society, but it is also beneficial to the businesses and consumers who use it.
