Industrial & Manufacturing Blog
After a demolition, the scrap metal will be mixed with various other parts of the previously intact building, making it difficult to find what you can sell for a profit. You will need to have a plan when organizing and storing your scrap metal.
Storing the Scrap Metal
One of the most useful tools for storing scrap metal is a series of buckets. You can label the buckets the type of scrap metal that you will place in them. Then, as you travel through the demolition site, simply toss the correct metal into the correct bucket. While boxes also work, buckets often come with a handle that make them easier to carry. Bags are also more useful than boxes. However, make sure that the bags are made out of a durable material.
Separating the Metal Types
At the very least, you will want to separate ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Ferrous metals consist of iron, steel and other metals that attach to magnets. Because they stick to magnets, a magnet can be a useful tool when locating and sorting these pieces.
Still, you will want to separate these items because if you take them all together, any scrap metal company will only pay for one type of metal, and usually whichever type is worth the least. Also, when looking through your stainless steel collection, you might discover that some of the stainless steel reacts to your magnet. You will want to place this in the regular steel section.
Sorting Usable and Scrapable Metal
Decide whether you will keep any of the scrap metal for yourself. Some of the longer pieces of scrap metal might be able to be used for any project you are involved in that would require metal. Those pieces shorter than two feet can be sold as scrap metal. Organizing scrap metal by size in general is helpful because it is easy to expect a piece to be worth more because you forget its size.
Working with Wire and Copper
A common source of metal is a wire. Some wires will have insulation on them, which can reduce their value as scrap metal. You can choose to strip the insulated wires. However, if you do not want to bother, make sure that you keep the stripped and unstripped wires separate at least.
The biggest pieces you want to focus on when organizing are copper pieces. Always have these in a separate category because copper can sell for a lot and you do not want to sell copper for the price of aluminum. Have more questions? Want to learn more? Try contacting a company like Pure Metal Recycling for more information.
Share20 February 2015
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