RECOVERY OF NON-FERROUS METALS

Scrap is not a waste product nor is it rubbish. It is old cars, industrial installations, boats, refrigerators, buildings and bridges, batteries, empty bottles, aircraft, bicycles and computers, etc. Also classified as scrap metal is the material that is left over in factories from the production of new products. Scrap metal could come from a breakers' yard, from homes, from restaurants or from local supermarkets. And it is a valuable resource because it is a source of recycled materials for producing new products.

Scrap metal includes all those metals that are non-ferrous or steel, which means, aluminium, copper, lead, zinc, nickel, titanium, cobalt, chrome and precious metals.

Millions of tons of non-ferrous scrap metal are recovered, processed and consumed every year by manufacturers, foundries, refineries and other industries in the United States.

The category list of non-ferrous scrap metal is centred on domestic and industrial sources, and is divided between the manufacturing leftovers and obsolete materials. Obsolete scrap metal is metal that is extracted from objects and products that have already been used, such as disused vehicle radiators, or pipes from old buildings. For example, copper and lead are extracted from radiators and copper is extracted from pipes. Aluminium in particular is recovered from drinks cans, and platinum can re recovered from the catalytic converters in vehicles. Nickel is obtained from applications containing stainless steel, gold from computer components, and silver from photographic film. Scrap metal can be recovered from thousands of obsolete products.

New scrap comes from materials that have never been used to manufacture a product. New scrap, which is obtained from the industrial process, could come from the metal skeleton that is left after product shapes have been cut out of sheet metal.

Recovered metal does not represent a volume as large as that for recovered ferrous metals. But on the other hand, it is much more valuable and includes, in addition to the common materials, other more original materials such as new generation materials the likes of zirconium or tungsten, or precious metals such as gold, silver or platinum.