It’s time for a little scrap metal trivia. Did you know that there are two kinds of scrap metal? These two types are ferrous and nonferrous. Ferrous metals are iron and steel. Nonferrous is pretty much everything else. This includes aluminum, tin, lead, pewter, zinc, bronze and brass. When you think of scrap metal what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Is it huge piles of twisted steel lifted by a giant claw machine at a junk yard? That is certainly one way to look at scrap metal. The truth is that a lot of what we throw out could be considered scrap metal starting with all our soda cans or empty canned goods. Those are easy to get rid of because they can be tossed out in the weekly recycling bin. But what about the big items?

When you consider getting rid of major kitchen appliances like stows, refrigerators, freezers, washers, dryers, dishwashers or trash compactors then you’re talking about some serious scrap metal. This also applies to things like bicycles, sewing machines and lawnmowers. The moment you decide anyone of those items should be gotten rid of it becomes scrap metal.

If scrap metal find its way to a landfill it is just becoming a wasted resource. Think of a landfill as a giant compost pile. The best results for something like that would be to have organic materials that can decompose down to their natural state. Adding scrap metal into that mix is going to slow the process down and make those landfills even more hazardous than they already are. The fact is that recycling metal actually requires fewer resources than making metal from scratch. This means it’s less expensive and reduces the harmful impact that mining or smelting raw materials has on the environment.

The numbers break down like this: for every ton of steel that is recycled we end up saving 2500 pounds of iron ore, 1400 pounds of coal and 120 pounds of limestone. Even if you recycle just one aluminum soda can you’re saving enough power to run a television set for three hours. That kind of recycling can add up very quickly.

All around Oakland there are scrap metal recycle centers which are happy to take in your metal. The one condition is that you have to bring the metal to them. You also have to bring the metal to them during their business hours. Just because you embrace the concept of recycling scrap metal doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy to pull off.

Of course you can reduce the amount of effort on your part by hiring professional junk haulers like Junk King Alameda to take away your big pieces of scrap metal. These junk haulers are in a perfect position to haul away your scrap metal because they’ve got the truck space and the muscle to do the heavy lifting. They also know exactly where to drop off the scrap metal which means you don’t have to run the risk of driving around Oakland for hours looking for the right junk yard. You’ve got better things to do with your time, so let Junk King’s pro hauling team take care of your scrap metal.