Did you know that metals can be recycled over and over again with no alteration to their properties? Steel is one of the most recycled materials on the planet with aluminum, copper, silver, brass, and gold at its heels. There is a financial incentive to recycling scrap metals and doing so allows us to preserve natural resources and save energy.

In 2018 only 34% of crude steel in the world was made using recycled materials. 2.2 million tons of steel cans and other packaging waste were generated. In 2019 69% of crude steel was made of recycled material. Steel and iron are recycled most in the world because of the ease of reprocessing. Using magnets in the sorting process allows for easy separation of these materials from waste. The most recycled container in the world is an aluminum can and recycling a single can saves enough energy to run a 100 watt light bulb for about four hours.

The process for recycling metals begins with the collection. It is more likely for these materials to be sold to scrap yards rather than dumped in a landfill because of their value. Scrap vehicles, large structures, railroad tracks, ships, and other large machines are the main source of scrapped metal. The metals are then sorted using the magnets mentioned previously. They are then processed by shredding the metals to promote the later melting of the materials. Melting the metal then happens in large furnaces. Each metal has its own specific furnace and the furnace size will determine the degree of heat it needs to do the job. Then purification to ensure the product is high quality and contaminant-free. Electrolysis is a common method used here. Lastly, melted metals are carried by a belt to cool. Scrap metal may be formed into certain shapes like bars so they can be more easily used for their next project.

Recycling is always a very important practice, especially when it comes to metal. We have the ability to reuse so much of these materials and we save a lot of energy and resources reusing what we already have.

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