The term scrap metal means a lot of different metals that has an economic benefit. People often wonder “what affects the value of your scrap”. When is the right time to sell your scrap? Is it best to sell it at a certain location? These are everyday questions, and we are offering a few reasons that happen to contribute towards the value of your scrap metal.

• Supply and Demand

Buying and selling scrap is an internationally known business , with several nations interacting with each other for scrap. Here, supply and demand play a large role in determining the amount of economic gain made by the supplier. Demand is higher where businesses flourish, while naturally, demand is lower and often close to none in places where raw materials for market products are not needed. When the supply of scrap surpasses the demand, the economic value of scrap decreases significantly. The economic status of the country also plays a major role. For example, during the 2008 recession the value of scrap dropped down to $250 per metric ton from $700 metric ton. On the other hand, when the demand for scrap is greater than the supply, the scrap prices increase and this often leads to inflated scrap metal prices (we see that iron and steel prices have risen by 70% in 2014).

• Metal Prices

The value of scrap is also affected by the market prices of metals. If the market price of a metal increases, then the scrap metal prices of the respective metal will also increase. So, if you have a large amount of a particular metal scrap, and the market price of the same metal rises, the value of your scrap is bound to increase as well.

• Location of Scrap Yard

The location of your scrap yard impacts the value of your scrap considerably. Customers seek scrap yards that are closer to their factories. Why? Because this reduces transportation costs. Especially while buying a large amount of scrap, transportation costs can add up. Additionally, if your scrap yard is located near an industrial area, the demand for and thus the prices of your scrap is higher than that of a scrapyard in a more residential area. However, if your scrap yard is located far from cities, ports or industrial areas, the net value of your scrap may decrease due to the additional transportation costs.

• Type of Scrap

The type of scrap largely affects the value of scrap. Metals are the most abundantly sought after scrap. This is because many scrap metals often have a higher metal content than even their ore! Tungsten is an example of such metals. Generally, it is also found that non-ferrous metals are considered more valuable than ferrous metals because the latter is more vulnerable to rusting; and perhaps also because the former is lighter and more malleable. In addition, scrap metal prices are also affected by the way they are classified (this may often vary between different scrap yards).

• Quality of Scrap

While determining scrap pricing, the quality of scrap is an important factor. The quality of scrap contributes towards an increment in the value of your scrap. A higher amount of scrap metal will yield a higher value for your scrap, which is why most suppliers prefer to collect large amounts before selling the metal scraps in meager quantities.

The best scrap metals to sell are generally pretty easy to figure out. Some are considered precious metals while others are not. Many metals are used in the making and designing of jewelry and some are recycled. In the past couple of years, artist have been using all different metals for recycle and art and even fashion. This is a great thing for jewelry fashion and for recycling. Most of these businesses will use recycled and recyclable metals. Below are just some metals that are used.

1. Bronze- Bronze is a scrap metal. There are quite a bit of fixtures made from bronze every day in different industries. These fixtures, once worn and used, can be recycled. In today’s fashion world, bronze is used in jewelry more than it has been in the past. Sometimes it is recycled into jewelry from some of the bronze fixtures and turns out very hip. Bronze is a great metal to be recycled in this way.
2. Gold- There is a lot of jewelry that is made of gold and gold can be recycled. Most do not know that some electronics and other household items have gold or are made from gold. This gold can be scrap metal as well as gold jewelry. A major popularity in the fashion world is happening with gold. Gold is a popular scrap metal.
3. Copper- Copper is a very popular metal that can be recycled.  Copper can be found in many places. There is mixed copper, copper tubing of different styles, and copper wire. Copper is becoming very popular to use in jewelry making. All can be scrap metal. Many things are made from copper and that is why it is popular to recycle as scrap metal.
4. Stainless Steel- Stainless steel is another popular kind of metal that is popular to recycle. Stainless steel is a large industry that knows just how important recycling is for the environment. Stainless steel for metal scrap can be done in a variety of many ways. Some stainless steel comes in many different grades. These grades will help in determining how the stainless steel scrap metal shall be recycled.
5. Silver- Silver is normally found in electronic and electric scrap, photographic wastes, coinage and jewelry. The demand for silver increases as the population grows. Many ways exist to enable reusing and recycling of silver. Turning into silver bars is the easiest and fastest way to recycle silver.

 

Forbes reports that recycling metals supported over 450,000 jobs in the United States as of 2011, generating over $90 billion annually.

Recycling

Recycling has a positive economic impact on the trade balance of the United States. After reclaiming the metals, recyclers ship them to other countries to use as raw materials for manufacturing of products that are then shipped back to the United States.

Recycling benefits natural-resource conservation in several ways. Recycling reduces the need to mine new materials, saving metal ores for future generations. The process also conserves energy. With copper and aluminum, the recycling process requires 10 percent or less of the energy used for refining raw ore. Each ton of recycled aluminum saves 14-megawatt hours of electricity. While the energy savings are less for steel, the process decreases consumption by almost 50 percent and reduces the use of coal and limestone required for processing ore.

In the electronics industry, reclaiming metals, including copper and precious metals, is also beneficial. The process reduces the materials sent to landfills. Devices, including small cell phones and computer mice, have metal parts that add significantly to the recycling effort.

Sustainability relates to the choices individuals and government entities make and how those choices affect the future. For example, polluting water supplies or wasting water reduces the availability of clean, uncontaminated water for future generations.

Sustainability within the soil supply is also crucial. Without properly caring for soil that produces plant life, food and natural surroundings for animals and humans, the soil loses the quality to encourage new growth for crops and natural sources of food.

Sustainability also ensures the existence of species. For example, if clean water and nonpolluted soil are scarce, the risk of species extinction increases. A lack of resources not only affects species but also the social, environmental and economic conditions of the population as a whole.

Residents and corporations can work to promote sustainability through practices that include recycling, a reduction of air and water pollution, and a shift toward green practices to preserve natural resources for future generations.

 

 

With winter in the desert hopefully coming to a close. It might be time to scrap some of the old from springs and summers gone by. Primarily, the old grill. With the price of new , nice, stainless steel grills dropping to the average back yard chef price, there may be an opportunity there for you. Scrapping your grill is painless and profitable.

Your going to want to check and see what kind of metal you have on your grill.  Most grills will include aluminum, brass, stainless steel and iron. Be careful though, in today’s cost effective environment, there are tons of plastic parts to be aware of.

Brass: is found in knobs, regulators and other small parts of the grill. Brass is non-magnetic and has a gold/yellow color.

Stainless Steel: This will mostly be used in more expensive grills but you can find some small pieces on lower cost grills. Stainless steel is also generally non-magnetic.
Aluminum: You can usually find aluminum on the main grill area on the lid and remaining grill enclosure. This metal is also non-magnetic.
Steel/iron: This will mostly be the remains of the grill after you have taken off the brass and aluminum parts. Be sure to take off as much of the plastic parts as possible. Your magnet will stick to steel and iron. Steel and Iron have a lower value overall.

You will want to use tools such as a  screw driver, wrench, hammer and possibly a saw for harder metals. We would also recommend a safety shield if your cutting and iron or steel. The easiest part to remove is going to be the grill top and bottom. Most hoods and or lids have some sort of easy to remove fastening system you can remove to take off the hood. Brass regulators are usually connected to the knobs on the front that regulate gas flow and heat. There are numerous types of fittings you can remove from the propane hoe.  Stainless steel pieces may come in sheets or in smaller parts. Take a magnet to the pieces. If they do not stick try to separate them from the parts they are connected to. Stainless steel has a much higher value than regular steel.

Each and every grill will have a different value depending on the types of metal involved. If you don’t want to separate the different metals we will scrap the whole grill for you, just bring it to us. Worst case scenario, you may get a new grill for the summer.

 

In any large industrial nation, stealing valuable metal  and general scrap metal theft, has become a serious concern for the local authorities as well as the companies that service them. Businesses, public utilities, railroad companies, and the community at large. Efforts to combat metal theft have occurred for several decades. However, these crimes mainly increase in two separate environments, when the price of the commodity itself increases and when the economy decreases. In the past decade, we’ve had some of both.

While we cannot be sure about the exact amount of metal stolen in the United States, a look at news and other media reports in recent years showed increased scrap metal theft throughout the country, with some areas showing double and triple the amount of reported theft. The following news accounts exemplify the growth of the scrap metal theft problem: The Tucson Weekly (November 2006) reported a one-year 150 percent increase in scrap metal theft, and that’s just locally. Many of your higher theft areas come from big boom areas such as Las Vegas or Phoenix where the construction of new homes bring in the thieves like coyotes. The average new home built today is laden with copper wiring.

The energy industry claims, that broken transformers in neighborhoods and substations in particular larger urban areas are costing somewhere between $500,000 and higher to repair a year. This includes reimbursement cost to customers on top of rebuilding the structures themselves. Ultimately, you and I pay for it.

According to a 2007 report by the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, copper theft is highest in Hawaii, Arizona, California and Oregon, and is increasing in the rural Midwest and South. Urban and warmer locations appear particularly susceptible to numerous thefts of small amounts of scrap metal by transient populations who often do not own a car and finance their travel by illegal scrapping. Communities without nearby scrap metal dealers are probably more secure from scrap metal theft than those with a ready supply of them. Scrap metal theft affects every state, and particular places within local communities are especially susceptible to it, such as the following:

Vacant and foreclosed properties are especially susceptible to theft because they often lack effective guardianship and are easily identifiable. the wiring, piping and other fixtures in a home are all available for a quick sale.

Construction sites have become susceptible to theft when contractors leave metal such as large spools of copper wire unsecured. While wire theft can occur almost anywhere, new construction sites and vacant housing are more-easily attacked targets.

Scrap Metal Recycling

All of us at some time have filled our recycling bins at home with plastics and other recyclable materials and felt we’re doing something to help the environment. The problem is, city or municipal recycling makes up less than half the products recycled in the United States every year. Scrap metal recycling comprises the majority of recycling and turns old metal into new products, and does it cost effectively and pays the person to do it. An abandoned car or broken refrigerator could end up as a teel beam supporting the bridge you drive across every day. Here’s how the scrap recycling process works:

1. Metal fabricators buy material from mills or foundries to convert into usable metal forms.
2. Manufacturers purchase the metal to make a product – electronics, appliances, automobiles, steel beams, and more. Scrap is often generated as a byproduct of the manufacturing process (this is called prime or industrial scrap).
3. Companies and consumers purchase the product. At the end of the product’s life-cycle, it becomes scrap.
4.  Amcep Metals buys scrap from manufacturers, companies, and consumers and resells it to meet demand.
5. The mill or foundry buys the processed scrap and melts it down to make new steel or metal.

 

Electronics Recycling Process

Electronics go through several steps before they are completely recycled.  Each item is then assessed to determine if it has reuse value. Remaining electronics are disassembled and separated into their various grades such as circuit boards, plastics, and metals. The metals are sold to a mill or foundry just like other scrap. Circuit boards are shredded then smelted or refined.

Auto Parts Recycling Process

Most automobiles can be recycled for useable parts and components. After Amcep Metals purchases a car, it is inventoried and added to an online parts database. All autos must have a valid title. The parts are removed from the vehicle – either by Amcep Metals or the consumer at a pick & pull or pull & pay location – when they are sold. After the car has been stripped of all parts or the value of the scrap car exceeds the value of the remaining parts, the vehicle is crushed, shredded, and the resulting metals are sold to mills and foundries for melting.

Recycling

Recycling is something you can do to help cut down on waste. When you recycle, something old  can be recreated again, instead of just being thrown away. There are also two other ways that help us avoid waste.

 

True recycling is more than just reusing something. It means breaking something apart and turning it into something new. The most common things that can be recycled are paper, glass, and metal. Many types of plastic and things made of wood can also be recycled. If something cannot be reused, and it is made from a material that can be recycled, we can take it to a recycling collection bin so that it can be made into something new!

Why Should We Recycle?

Do you sometimes take out the trash at your house? You probably have a dumpster or garbage container outside of your house that a garbage collector comes and empties into a big truck once a week. Where does all the garbage go after the truck gets filled up? It goes to a landfill or a dump, where piles and piles of trash and waste are compacted (pressed down or crushed) and then buried in the ground. Grass can be planted over the buried trash to make the land look better and be safer. Sometimes landfills can leak dangerous chemicals into the soil that can eventually get to streams, lakes, and rivers, where water that we drink comes from. Lots of animals live in that water and drink it too. When landfills are built and taken care of the way they are supposed to be, they are not dangerous, but they do use up land that could be used for other things instead, like building houses.

When things are recycled, not as much gets thrown away and sent to landfills. Recycling helps keep our earth clean because not as much land is filled up with garbage. Recycling paper and wood means that not as many trees will get cut down, so not as many animals will have their homes destroyed.

Many products that can be recycled are made from materials that come from the earth. Minerals called ore and silica are used to make metal and glass. These are called natural resources because they are found naturally on the earth. This also means that we cannot make more of these resources, so when they are all used up, that’s it, we can’t create more to keep making products! Thankfully, there are still a lot of natural resources left, but each day there will be less and less since new products are always being made and using up more of the earth’s resources. We can help make the earth’s natural resources last longer by reusing things we already have and recycling things we don’t need.

Another problem with making new products, such as plastic, is that it creates pollution in the air that we breathe. The chemicals and other things that are used to create lots of products are dangerous and some of those chemicals are left over after the products are made and can eventually end up in water that comes into our houses through our faucets. Recycling does not create as many dangerous chemicals that pollute the air and water as making new products from natural resources does.

Ferrous Metals or Non-ferrous Metals