Why do we recycle metals? And what metals can we recycle?
Scrap metal processing goes far beyond placing aluminum cans in recycling bins. Metals recycling is one of the largest and most important components of a vibrant and healthy US economy. Consider: recycled steel accounts for almost 60% of raw steel production in the United States. Half of our copper consumed in industry - from homes to appliances to electronics - comes from recycled sources.
And not only are metals recycling facilities among the most important sources of metal for our economy, recycling existing metal saves the United States enormously in energy costs. Consider some remarkable facts which make us proud to be a recycler:
- Recycling steel uses more than 60% less energy than producing steel from iron ore.
- Recycling one car alone can save 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal and 120 pounds of limestone.
- A recycled aluminum can is not just a can that does not end up on the street or a landfill: it is a source of new aluminum that can save up to 92% of the energy required to produce new aluminum from virgin materials. Recycling aluminum cans alone saves 26 million barrels of gasoline each year - America's entire gas supply for three days! (When you toss out one aluminum can you waste as much energy as if you’d filled the same can half-full of gasoline and poured it into the ground.)
This is important because:
- Americans throw out enough iron and steel to supply all the nation’s automakers on a continuous basis
- A steel mill using recycled scrap reduces related water pollution, air pollution and mining wastes by about 70%.
- Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a 100-watt bulb for 20 hours, a computer for 3 hours, or a TV for 2 hours.
- Recycling aluminum saves 95% of the energy used to make the material from scratch. That means you can make 20 cans out of recycled material with the same amount of energy it takes to make one can out of new material.
- Energy savings in 2003 alone were enough to light a city the size of Pittsburgh for six years!
- Americans throw away enough aluminum every month to rebuild our entire commercial air fleet.
- Recycling steel and tin cans saves 74% of the energy used to produce them. (Americans use 100 million tin and steel cans every day!)
Metals recycling is the original "green" industry, and is still the vast bulk of America's recycling, both in terms of weight and economic impact. Please remember: What we recycle today leaves our tomorrow cleaner, greener and far more efficient.
So which metals does The Can Man® accept?
FERROUS METALS
Automobiles, trucks, farm equipment and parts
Structural Steel, rebar, droppings
White Goods (Refrigerators, Ovens, Washers, ect)
NON-FERROUS METALS
Aluminum (cans, solid aluminum, aluminum wire, aluminum wheel rims)
Copper wire, copper pipe, and old copper sheet.
Stainless Steel
Cardboardand paper
METALS WE WILL NOT ACCEPT
Hazardous material containers
Radiated metal
Closed containers
Beer and soda kegs