Environmental Benefits of Recycling Scrap Metal
Don’t toss that scrap metal! In today’s ecologically-focused society, there’s a big push for recycling anything reasonably possible. But how does that affect your business? Not only does recycling your scrap metal save your overhead, it makes a big difference in today’s world. Here’s why:
Recycling Versus Extraction
The top of the Washington Monument in our nation’s capital was cast out of 100 ounces of aluminum. Why aluminum? Because the extraction process was so energy-heavy, aluminum at that time was considered a precious metal with a cost similar to silver. An ounce of aluminum in 1886 cost $1.00, the average daily wage of one of the workers building the monument.
Why has aluminum become so inexpensive? Because of recycling. Recycling aluminum helps conserve our environment by saving the high cost of energy required to extract aluminum from bauxite ore.
It’s not just aluminum, either – most metals are less expensive to recycle, even when being purchased as scrap metal, than extracting and processing raw ore to develop new metals resources.
Avoiding Mining Hazards
Ask anyone in mining country, miners and the environment around the mine face hazards every day. Whether it’s runoff from chemicals used to keep mining machinery operational, the risks to the miners themselves or the devastation left after a strip mining operation goes through an area and destroys wildlife habitat, the damage done is tremendous.
Recycling scrap metal helps lower the amount of mining that is necessary to keep our world moving, protecting our environment and preserving our world for future generations.
More Landfill Space
If scrap metal isn’t going out with the trash, there’s more room in our landfills for non-recyclable materials. It also helps prevent the buildup of scrap metal at local businesses and hobbyist’s homes, helping protect property values.
As open land in our country, especially near our larger cities, becomes a rare commodity, doesn’t it make more sense to use that land for homes, businesses and food production than storing garbage?
Social Marketing Benefits
Like Kermit the Frog sings, “it’s not easy being green.” But it’s much easier for everyday people to enjoy a sustainable lifestyle because of the wide range of products available today that are created from recycled scrap metal.
Environmental stewardship has gone from picking up litter and protesting environmentally harmful practices to shopping smart at the local store.
With today’s popular social media trends, it’s easy to promote your business by taking advantage of this fact, because by recycling your scrap metal, you’re recycling “100% of pre-consumer waste metal”, which sounds great on your website or product packaging and sells more of what you have to offer in an environmentally-friendly fashion..
Now that you know some of the ecological and environmental benefits of scrap metal sales, why not take action? We’re happy to help you set up a sustainable recycling program for your business.
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