Along with copper, brass is another metal that is widely used in various industries. It is applied in electric wiring, locksmithing, architecture, house fitting, music, etc. Its wide range of use is due to the characteristics brass possesses, including high electrical and thermal conductivity, strength and durability, and corrosion, and wear resistance.
Unlike copper, brass does not occur naturally as it is an alloy. Typically, it combines two metals: copper and zinc. However, lead, aluminum, iron or tin can be added depending on the properties an alloy is supposed to have.

Brass commonly comes in red and yellow, and these colors might vary in their tinting.
Red brass with its higher scrap price contains more than 80% cup rum, which is what actually gives it its reddish color. This type is common in plumbing and can be recycled.

Yellow brass composition consist of about 60% Cu (that’s why its price is lower),and the rest is comprised of zinc and some other metals. It typically can be found in plumbing, taps, locks and keys, etc.

Our industrial scrap include mobile crushing and baling, demolition services, transportation and containers, certified scales, and computerized purchases.

We have mobile baling crews across the inter-mountain West to assist the public and private sectors with ecologically sound and economically productive metal recycling. Our mobile crews employ the latest in mobile baling equipment to ensure that the job is done quickly, and with minimal interruption.

As always, we are environmentally sensitive and employ safe work practices to ensure complete compliance with the latest environmental and operational standards.

We operate car-crushing crews across nine states. These crews use environmentally sound work practices to ensure that everyone is in compliance with the latest environmental standards, and we continually monitor market conditions to pay you fair, competitive scrap metal prices.

All cars must have:  

• All CFC’s (Freon or A/C refrigerant) removed by a certified technician
• All batteries removed
• Gasoline and free flowing liquid disposal requirements vary by location. Call your nearest Western Metals Recycling location for more details.

Whether you need a roll-off container for your manufacturing facility, construction site, cleanup project, or at your recycling facility, we’ll deliver it on-site and on time close to the source.

Specialty containers in various sizes for specific requirements (i.e. lockable tops), roll-off containers from 10 to 50 yard sizes, steel sided and specialty trailers.

These days, our economy is hugely reliant on the recycling of metals and all other types of materials. There are a variety of benefits associated with metal recycling, three of which will be discussed in detail:

JOB CREATION

The simple fact of the matter is that the metal recycling industry comprises a fairly large percentage of overall American industry. 

By recycling on a consistent basis, we help these individuals keep their jobs, ensuring that a meaningful portion of the American workforce doesn’t have the rug pulled out from under them.

At the present time, the metal recycling industry is growing. If we maintain our recycling efforts, it should continue to grow in the future.

Through recycling, we are able to use metals over and over again, essentially creating an endless supply. This makes these metals more available, and therefore, cheaper.

In contrast, if metals are not recycled, fresh metals will have to be mined from the earth on a consistent basis. Because metal mines are not endless, the metals that are mined from them will become scarcer and more expensive each time they’re mined. The more expensive the metal that is used to make a product, the more expensive the product will be to purchase. It’s simple economics.

CASH FLOW INTO THE HANDS OF THE WORKING-CLASS

Because so many jobs are created by the metal recycling industry, the industry supplies a meaningful amount of money into the national economy. In 2016, recycling workers were paid a total of $36.6 billion dollars. This is money that goes directly back into the local economy, helping to keep it strong.

LOOKING FOR A PLACE TO RECYCLE METAL IN BEDFORD PARK?

We accept metals of all kinds, from aluminum, to iron, to brass, to stainless steel, and more. Regardless of the metal items you have in your possession, we will recycle them in the proper manner.

As aforementioned, it is more important than ever to recycle waste materials where possible. Aside from general benefits of recycling, such as reduced landfill, there are metal-specific advantages.Metal does not biodegrade quickly, if at all, so it important to ensure metal does not end up in landfill. Landfill capacity is limited and encouraged not to grow as the amounting waste can have devastating effects on both the surrounding environment and greenhouse emissions.

Reduce Energy Use

The creation of virgin metal materials uses far more energy than using recycled metal. From mining and processing the ore to shaping and treating the metal for use, lots of expensive and environmentally damaging energy must be used.

The process of repurposing waste metal is far more waste efficient; for example, recycled aluminium requires 95% less energy! Copper is another energy efficient waste metal, with recycled copper requiring 90% less energy.

Protect Natural Resources

Virgin metal requires natural ore to be mined and processed, using up limited natural resources. However, when using recycled metal, no additional materials need to be mined, helping to preserve natural resources.

Mining is a disruptive process, to natural resources and local environments and wildlife. It is also costly, reflected in high consumer prices for virgin metal. By increasing metal recycling and reducing mining of ores, the environment, consumers and ore reserves benefit greatly.

Benefit Economy

Money isn’t everything, but the recycling industry greatly benefits the economy through job creation and local investment. Where dumping metal in landfill may take one employee driving a truck, the recycling process takes many employees performing vital steps.

Almost all metals can be recycled into new high-quality metals, as their properties are not diminished during the recycling process. Environmentally, metal recycling has many perks, as fewer raw materials need to be extracted which reduces carbon emissions, and financial reward as many companies

What is the difference between ferrous and non-ferrous metals?

The main difference between ferrous and non-ferrous metals is that ferrous metals contain iron and non-ferrous metals don’t. Ferrous metals are also mostly magnetic, whereas non-ferrous don’t contain magnetic properties, making it relatively easy to tell them apart.

What are the five most common metals that can be recycled?

Steel

As a ferrous metal, steel is a major component in buildings, infrastructure, tools, ships, cars, machines and appliances used across the world. According to environmental agencies, most steel items today contain between 25% and 100% recycled content.

Aluminium

Aluminium is a similarly popular metal that’s capable of being melted at comparatively lower temperatures than steel, making it particularly attractive for recycling Aluminium cans use just 5% of the energy needed to produce them from scratch during the recycling process

Brass

Malleable, conductive and resistant to corrosion and fatigue, brass is a popular metal for recycling. Energy costs for recycling brass are lower compared to those of other metals

There are two most common types of copper pipe, #1 copper pipe and #2 copper pipe.

The difference between the two is pretty simple, #1 copper is clean copper pipe: no paint, no solder, no other metals or materials attached to it. #2 copper pipe can have paint solder dirt but no other metals or materials attached to it. There are few ways to go about recycling it, you can either sort your #1 and #2 or you could mix it together and most recycling yards will just go in the middle on the price.

The difference in price between the two is usually $00.10-$00.20 so if someone has quoted you $1.80 for #1 copper pipe and $1.60 for #2 copper pipe you can always mix them together and try to sell them for the average of $1.70 per lb. you always need to make sure that you don’t have any brass attached to it because that will bring your price down, most yards will have to buy it for copper brass mix in that case, it all depends on how much time you want to dedicate to this process, selling it for copper brass mix will save you a lot of time and in most cases will still bring you decent money, the price for copper brass mix is normally about $00.20-$00.40 less than #2 copper depending on the copper to brass ratio in your material.

The demand for aluminum products is growing steadily because of their positive contribution to modern living. Aluminium is the second most widely used metal whereas the aluminum can is the most recycled consumer product in the world. Aluminum finds extensive use in air, road and sea transport, food and medicine, packaging, construction, electronics and electrical power transmission.The excellent recyclability of aluminum and its high scrap value and low energy needs during recycling make it highly desirable to one and all. The global aluminium demand is forecasted to soar to nearly 70 million tons by 2020 from around 37 million tons.

Recycling of Aluminium

The contribution of recycled metal to the global output of aluminum products has increased from 17 percent in 1960 to 34 percent today, and is expected to rise to almost 40 percent by 2020. Global recycling rates are high, with approximately 90 percent of the metal used for transport and construction applications recovered, and over 60 percent of used beverage cans are collected.

Aluminium does not degrade during the recycling process, since its atomic structure is not altered during melting. Aluminum recycling is both economically and environmentally effective, as recycled aluminum requires only 5% of the energy used to make primary aluminum, and can have the same properties as the parent metal.

During the course of multiple recycling, more and more alloying elements are introduced into the metal cycle. This effect is put to good use in the production of casting alloys, which generally need these elements to attain the desired alloy properties.The industry has a long tradition of collecting and recycling used aluminium products.

Over the years, USA and European countries have developed robust separate collection systems for aluminum packaging with a good degree of success. Recycling aluminum reduces the need for raw materials and reduces the use of valuable energy resources. Recycled aluminum is made into aircraft, automobiles, bicycles, boats, computers, cookware, gutters, siding, wire and cans.

How are Aluminium Cans Recycled?

Aluminum can is the most recycled consumer product in the world. Each year, the aluminum industry pays out more than US$800 million for empty aluminum cans. Recycling aluminum cans is a closed-loop process since used beverage cans that are recycled are primarily used to make beverage cans. Recycled aluminium cans are used again for the production of new cans or for the production of other valuable aluminium products such as engine blocks, building facades or bicycles.

METAL PRESERVES CONTINUE TO THRIVE

There is a great deal of metal that is still in the ground. However, you’d be surprised at how quickly it would diminish if metal recycling efforts weren’t being made around the world. If the recycling of metals stopped today, but the manufacture of metal objects continued on the same trajectory, the world’s metal preserves would be depleted within decades.

This is why recycling your metals is so important. By recycling your metals, you prevent the need for metal mining. This allows natural metals to remain in the ground, thus allowing them to be used when they’re truly needed.

This has economic benefits as well. The richer our metal preserves, the less money our metal items will cost. In other words, by recycling your metals, you are helping to control the costs of items that consist of metals.

LESS POLLUTION

While metal recycling is not a pollution-free process, it causes a great deal less pollution than fresh metal mining does. This is because it doesn’t require as much energy usage, and ultimately results in fewer carbon emissions.

ENERGY IS CONSERVED

At the present time, fossil fuels are our most commonly used energy source. While this energy source is highly effective, it is also finite. At some point, we will run out of fossil fuels and will have to turn to alternative forms of energy.

In the meantime, it’s important that we make efforts to conserve energy as much as possible. While there are a number of ways to reduce energy usage, the recycling of metals is a key step in the process. By recycling our metals instead of mining for fresh ones, we reduce fossil fuel usage substantially and conserve a great deal of the energy.

Brass is an extremely common metal that is found all over your home, office, work site, and more. You can find faucets, EDM wire, hose spigots, metal pens, and many other common items that are made of brass and are perfect for scrap recycling. Brass can often be found on the end of copper wire as well. But by far the most common way to scrap brass is to recycle old plumbing materials. Here’s what you need to know when recycling plumbing brass.

If you aren’t sure if a metal is brass, simply scratch it with a file. Brass will be yellow when scratched. It is usually combined with metals like zinc and copper to create a product, so scratching those away reveals the brass beneath. Heavy copper content will lend brass a reddish color. When looking for brass scrap, don’t forget areas like the valves on grills and ovens, as well as sinks and even some silverware.

Scrapping Plumbing Brass

Getting the best prices is always a matter of careful sorting. As far as pricing plumbing brass, most of the time it is very difficult to quote best price for plumbing brass over the phone because it usually consists of a variety of different materials, from plastic to copper. If its a mix load, we can always give you best average price once we see it, or you can sort it to get top prices.

Lead is classified as hazardous waste and is highly toxic to most species. Lead can be effectively recycled for reuse in new lead-based products, diverting it from landfill and using less energy than refining primary ore. Lead is used in a number of products but only accounts for only a small part of the waste stream. However, this metal is highly toxic to animals and humans and is classified as hazardous waste.

Due to it toxicity lead should not be placed in landfill where it could contaminate groundwater. Recycling lead helps protect the environment from toxic metal and it also uses less energy than refining primary ore. About 90% of the lead scrap produced in Australia arises from lead-acid batteries in vehicles.

The majority of scrap metal recyclers will accept lead waste in a number of forms – including lead-acid batteries. Recyclers may offer drop-off or pick services and there may be a fee associated with this service.Lead is collected and then smelted in a furnace. It can them be formed into lead ingots of various purities, quantities, size and weight configurations for reuse in a range of products.