What Happens to Metal Once it’s Been Scrapped?

This month with Hill Metal Recycling we will be taking a look at the process of scrapping metal from the delivery, to the scrap yard and beyond. You might be surprised by the many uses for scrap metal…

Process of scrap metal

The nice thing about metal is that it can be reused for a majority of things when it’s recycled efficiently and effectively. It’s safe to say that one person’s rubbish is another’s treasure, and this is certainly the case with scrap metal. If your car is about to give up, think about the metal that can be reused to make something that functions just as well as your car did, when it was first made.

• The first step, of course, is dropping off your scrap metal in exchange for money. As mentioned in our previous article, it’s important to identify and sort between your ferrous and non-ferrous metals to help you receive a bigger profit.
• When the scrap yard has enough of the same metals, arrangements are made to send them off to the furnace. On arrival, this metal is placed it is placed into the furnace at extremely high temperatures varying from 1400 – 1600 degrees.
• When the metals have fully melted, their liquid state is then poured into molds and once cooled they become blocks of metal, called ingots. This bar or brick-sized lump of metal is then sold onto various companies that require a substantial amount of metal – to help them with their production line.
• These bars of metal are to be re-melted into cars, food containers, piping – the lot!

The great thing about metal is that it can be recycled without losing any of its important properties even when the shape has been altered completely. By recycling your scrap metal you are helping companies that work in the metal industry to manufacture recycled metal into their products, which is good news for the globe. Recycled metal can be found in hundreds of things including pots, roofing, and bridges.

You may be wondering what happens to scrap metal that isn’t so pure? This not so prime metal is shredded and sent off to mills, here it will be treated and mixed with better, purer metals. These metals are placed into the furnace together to enhance the grade – this will then be made into sheets of fine metal used for products such as cars.

When this cured metal is sold on around the world, it is then incorporated into a company’s products and reused – until there comes a time when it’s worn and needs recycling again.  

Hill Metal Recycling offer first-rate services throughout Harlow, Hertfordshire and the surrounding areas. Our services include: scrap metal, copper, lead, brass, zinc, aluminium, steel and stainless steel recycling along with cable recycling, scrap metal collection and scrap car collection and depollution. We’re open to public, trade and businesses and offer low-cost prices to suit all. If you’re looking for an easy in and easy out drop-off recycling service, you can always count on our friendly professionals at HMR. Call us today – see what we can do for you.