Metal Recycling Services: The Essence of Recycling Ferrous and Non-Ferrous Metals Separately

07 March 2023

Many appliances, equipment pieces, and tools today are made from various metal materials. The same composition can be found on containers, utensils, and others often used by not only businesses but also households.

The enormous presence of metals in most settings makes the materials one of the most demanded elements in the recycling world. As more parts and products maximise metals, manufacturers have to ensure that they have an adequate supply of metals. Recycling centres and other similar businesses, fortunately, can help recover metals from old, discarded parts and products and process them into useful metal sheets, bars, and so on.

Two Basic Types of Metals

Two groups of metals can be obtained and reprocessed by recycling centres. These groups are ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Generally, the difference between these metal groups lies in their iron content. Ferrous metals typically contain iron, while non-ferrous ones do not.

Ferrous metals likewise have excellent tensile strength and durability. These qualities allow them to be useful in the construction industry, where longevity is essential to keep structures intact. Ferrous metals’ commendable properties also make them effective as shipping containers, automobile components, industrial piping, and basic tools. Aside from their strength, ferrous metals are often magnetic, making them very useful in the field of motor and electrical industries. These metals, however, can be vulnerable to rust due to their high carbon content.

Non-ferrous metals, alternatively, have admirable malleability. The lack of iron also makes these metals resistant to corrosion and rust. Ultimately, they are non-magnetic. All these qualities make non-ferrous metals highly utilised in manufacturing roofing, gutters, liquid pipes, outdoor signs, and other electronic and wiring elements.

Recycle Metals Separately

Even though products with ferrous and non-ferrous metals can be recovered, the entire process of recycling with these metals should be done separately.

One of the main reasons why they should be recycled separately is they have varying values. Non-ferrous metals often have a higher price on the scrap metal market as opposed to ferrous ones. And if they are not separated optimally, the value of non-specified scrap metal containers may decrease significantly. This problem may not be beneficial for households and businesses, especially if they want to gain maximum value out of their scrap materials.

When processing products with ferrous metals, recycling centres can maximise a magnet to collect them. Once collected, they can be remelted and recast. Non-ferrous metals, alternatively, can be recycled through electrowinning, non-ferrous sensors, and precipitation.

Benefits of Recycling Metals

Metal recycling can bring tons of benefits to industries and the environment.

First, metal recycling can effectively conserve natural resources. Since scrap metals are collected and converted into useful metals again, industries do not have to rely on newly extracted metals to generate their needed products. Metal recycling can also save energy. The processes involved in metal recycling consume less energy as opposed to the methods used in extracting and mining raw metal materials. Industries can even minimise their expenses without compromising quality as recycled metals still retain their initial properties.

If you want to recycle metal scraps, you can contact us at Victorian Metal Traders.

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