How Is Metal Recycled & Made Into New Products?
Recycling metal follows a four-stage process, involving collection, processing, shredding and distribution. Recycled iron and steel are important to the steel industry, and recycling carbonated beverage cans can be an important source of aluminum. Other metals, especially those found in electronic waste, can also be recycled and reused. Recycling metal and processing it into new products helps lower raw material consumption and energy usage.
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Sources
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Metals, both ferrous (iron) and nonferrous (not iron) are part of many products, from cans and containers to appliances and cars. Aluminum cans that hold carbonated beverages are a popular source of scrap aluminum, whereas cars tend to yield a lot of iron and steel. Other metals are also recyclable, although they tend to be neglected by most consumers. These include nickel, zinc, tin, lead and brass. Even jewelry like gold and silver can be recycled.
Process
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The recycling process starts at the collection stage. While consumers may deliver metal materials to specific collection centers, waste management companies also regularly pick up recyclable waste, especially metal cans made of aluminum, steel and tin. The next stage is processing. After all the materials are sorted out they are shredded, compacted and then sold to industries that can make use of them, usually mills that melt and reuse the metal.
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Iron and Steel
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Steel is the most recycled material in the United States. By recycling iron and steel, new iron does not have to be mined, which saves on mining and processing costs, including the energy needed to do it. Recycling steel is as simple as sorting it and then melting it along with molten iron. At about 1,700 degrees C, the mixture is turned into liquid metal and then made into huge slabs, which are then coiled. These coils are cut to specifications and given to industrial customers as raw material to turn back into products like automobile parts, appliances, machinery and food containers.
Aluminum
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Aluminum originally comes from bauxite, an ore rich in alumina, which is a compound of aluminum and oxygen. To remove the oxygen requires a lot of energy. Recycling not only reduces aluminum mining but also only uses 5 percent of the energy needed to create new aluminum. According to WasteOnline, an information website affiliated with Waste Watch and funded by the New Opportunities Fund Digitise project, recycling 1 kilogram of aluminum can save up to 6 kilograms of bauxite, 4 kilograms of chemicals and 14 kilowatt hours of electricity. Recycled aluminum is remade into many types of aluminum products.
Other Metals
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Other metals like copper, silver, gold, lead and mercury can be recycled from electronics. They are important for the development of electronic components and have become a popular source of recycling. However, while these other metals can be reused there is speculation on the ethics of the process, especially the exporting of electronics to other countries where they may be mishandled or processed unsafely.
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- Photo Credit Recycle image by jeremyhowell from Fotolia.com
