Hunting for scrap in your neighborhood can be fun, but it certainly isn’t easy. Between the difficulty of finding the scrap and the occasional awkwardness of asking if it’s okay to take the scrap, scrap hunters spend a lot more time searching for metal than they often do preparing and selling it.

While looking for the next great piece of scrap is part of the thrilling adventure of scrapping, sometimes you want an easier way. Maybe you’re looking to boost your scrap income to the next level, or maybe you’re new to scrap metal recycling and want an easier way to get some experience.

The answer can be searching on Craigslist for free scrap. Craigslist is a powerful tool that has changed a lot of local industries, but seems to have an exceptionally large impact on the scrap market. That being said, you need to know how to use it in order to reap the benefits.

While there are a variety of recyclable scrap metals out there, they are not all equal in value—and brass, as one of the higher-paying scrap metals, is in high demand at both the industry level and for individual scrappers. That being said, brass isn’t always easy to find or to identify. With the right knowledge, though, finding brass and separating it from other metals can be a lot easier.

How to Identify Brass

Brass is a shiny, yellow-gold metal that is quite durable and also often used for decorative purposes. It looks a lot like copper at first glance, but brass has a few unique characteristics that set it apart.

First of all, brass is not magnetic. A magnet is a key tool for any scrapper, as it allows for the easiest identification and separation of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, which have different values and are often processed differently at the yard.

It’s amazing how much the scrap metal recycling industry—and the world at large—has changed in the past 20 or 30 years. Knowing how much things have changed already, it’s impossible not to think about what the industry and our planet will be like 20 or 30 years into the future.

Predicting the future is a tough business, but there are plenty of people—from scrap collectors to environmental activists to corporate executives—who are interested in knowing where scrap metal recycling is going.

With all the data we have access to today, combined with experience and know-how in the world of scrap, many of us think we know where things are headed. The good news is that, though there are a few challenges, the future of scrap metal recycling looks very bright.

Like many other appliances, scrapping a microwave can be tough. However, with the right know-how and just a little bit of luck, your microwave could be worth a lot more disassembled when you take it to the scrap yard.

This is because microwaves can contain sources of valuable metals like copper, and because even the more common metals used to make microwaves will be worth more if taken off or out of the machine before taking them in to scrap.

Getting Started

Before you start dismantling your microwave for scrap, there is some important prep work to do. First, you need to make sure you have the following vital safety equipment:

• protective eyewear
• work gloves
• long sleeves

You’ll also want to make sure you’re working in a clean environment—both to keep your valuable scrap clean and to keep yourself safe.

Also, the first thing you want to do when beginning to disassemble any appliance is cutting the cord. This is a safety measure—and on top of that, you can get a standard insulated wire price for the cord, or strip it down to further clean and separate the conductive metal inside.

Last but not least, it’s worth looking up videos or instructions for disassembling your particular brand and model of microwave online. While disassembling a microwave won’t be described in a standard instruction manual, it’s a pretty common scrapping practice, and a more experienced scrapper might have some great safety or technical advice.

In the recycling business, one of the most common questions we get is whether or not a particular material can be recycled. The answers can be complicated—for example, some facilities recycle certain products that other facilities don’t, and some recyclable materials are valuable while others are not—but we always like to help people get to the bottom of it when it comes to recycling. Neoprene is one of those materials that we get asked about periodically. It is a synthetic rubber material commonly used in wetsuits, work gloves, and electrical insulation, so it’s easy enough to find—but can it be used and reused like metals and other recyclable materials?

What Is Neoprene, Anyway?

Neoprene is actually a family of similar materials, though they may vary slightly in the ways they are manufactured and used. All of them are synthetic and rubber-like.

Neoprene is used because of its water and heat resistance, and because it is both malleable and strong. In addition to wetsuits and protective gear, it’s also used in laptop, tablet, and phone cases, because it can be molded to fit these devices snugly and is strong enough to protect them from damage.

Neoprene also has many applications in the medical field, such as in gloves for doctors, nurses, and surgeons.

Because it is used so often and for such a wide variety of products, recycling it can be great for the environment.

Christmas brings families together and provides fun for young and old alike. However, the extra work at home, the extra money spent on all those gifts, and the mess left by wrapping and decorations can cause some real strain as you go into the New Year.

Luckily, recycling can prove a great solution to all of these problems if you think creatively. By recycling everything the holidays leave behind, you can keep the environment thriving for many Christmases to come—and if you find the right things, you can even put some extra cash in your pocket.

Scrap Metal Recycling After Christmas

Know anyone who has a metal tree stand? These are often made of iron, and can be worth some money because of their weight. There are also plenty of other great opportunities for recycling just after Christmas.

For example, all those lights and extension cords that have finally given out can be sold as insulated wire. While this may not net you a fortune, it can at the least make buying replacements for next year a bit easier!

In addition to netting you a little cash, recycling electrical wire can have a huge benefit for the environment because so much of it simply goes to the landfill—and because mining new metal for wire isn’t cheap or great for the Earth.

Some tree ornaments, too, are made of valuable metals like brass and aluminum. If you find that you simply have too many ornaments, you could see if any of them are worth anything. Older ornaments are more likely to have scrap metal value, but all of them are at the least worth looking into. 

Starting up a recycling program at your business’s next construction site or demolition job can give huge benefits to the environment and our community by keeping recyclable waste out of local landfills. It can also be beneficial to your business!

There are a lot of negative myths about on-site recycling going around in the construction world. Most of these are left over from days gone by, when recycling was much more expensive and less common. However, now it’s easy to integrate recycling into your construction or demolition plans. Here are a few of the most common myths, and the positive truths that prove them wrong.

Old lawncare equipment can be a lucrative source for recyclable scrap metal, but dismantling old lawnmowers, edgers, and other outdoor tools can be a real chore. However, with the right tools and know-how, the whole process gets a lot easier, and can even be a lot of fun.

Even if you aren’t a regular scrapper yet, getting rid of old lawncare and landscaping equipment can be tough, and the money earned from selling your old lawnmowers, weedeaters, and even tractors to a Dallas scrap metal recycler can help offset the costs of an expensive upgrade or replacement.

However, you will earn far more money for your equipment if you can dismantle it yourself. This holds true for virtually all other kinds of scrap as well. Because dismantling machinery allows for more precise weighing of recyclable materials and saves the recycling facility money, you can be paid more.

Tin is a material we see frequently here at Encore Recyclers in Garland, but it’s also something that confuses a lot of people in the scrap industry. Luckily, we have all the answers regarding tin right here on our blog.

The name “tin” is misleading. Almost any “tin” material you’ll find at Encore or any other Garland scrap metal recycler isn’t the element tin, but actually very thin strips of steel.

But What About Tin Cans?

Yes, tin was historically used in tin cans, which were ubiquitous in much of the 19^th and 20^th centuries. However, even these cans were not actually made of tin.

Most often, they were made of steel, which was then covered (or plated) with tin. The reason for this is simple: tin does not corrode, but steel (especially cheaper, lower grade steel) does. It was cheaper for the canning industry to make cheap steel cans, then coat them with tin to make them weather-resistant.

This advancement of engineering was important to both the military (which used tin cans to feed soldiers on the move) and to the rise of major industry and mass production more generally.

Today, most “tin cans” of soup, beverages, and other canned goods are primarily made of aluminum.

Like other recyclable metals, we’re happy to take titanium materials here in Garland at Encore Recyclers. However, there’s a lot people don’t know about this metal. Here’s some important (and even fun) information for all you scrappers out there.

The Uses of Titanium

Titanium is an amazing metal for several reasons, especially its durability, low weight, and extremely high melting point. It’s used in a variety of both everyday and highly specialized tools and pieces of equipment, including things like

• Frames for eyeglasses
• Bicycle frames and components
• Airplane engines
• Replacement hips
• Ballistic armor
• Watches and jewelry
• Motorcycles and automotive parts

As you can see from the wide variety of uses it’s put to, titanium is quite versatile. This can also make it a valuable metal, especially if it’s clean and otherwise in good condition. It can be easy for scrappers to find, too!