Businesses generate a lot of waste, so it’s important to implement sustainability practices that allow you and your workers to reduce, reuse and recycle as much of this waste as possible. In addition to recycling common office wastes such as paper, cardboard, printer cartridges, and plastics, care should also be taken to ensure metal wastes are recycled, by trading them in as scrap. If you want to do your bit for the environment and earn some cash for scrap, find out where you can salvage scrap metal around the office.
Aluminium cans and food containers and foil
It’s likely that your workers order takeaway lunches at least a couple of times a week, so to prevent this recyclable waste from ending up with the rest of the rubbish, provide your office with a designated metal recycling bin. Instruct your employees to recycle all aluminium waste, along with any steel cans (from baked beans or canned tuna) they may bring into the office. Aluminium and steel are able to be recycled infinitely, and recycling just one aluminium can saves enough energy to power a TV for 3 hours, so it’s worth holding onto this waste until you can trade it in as scrap.
Old steel furniture
Before chucking out old office furniture, check whether it has any recyclable parts. Steel framed chairs and tables, as well as chrome plated pieces, are often favoured in office environments because of their professional look, so salvage the metal from these items before disposing of them. All of this metal can be added to the pile that you take to your local metal buyer.
Old technology
One of the biggest sources of scrap metal in the office is obsolete computing technology. Electronic waste (or e-waste) is full of valuable metals like copper, silver, gold and palladium (among others), and because the other components of e-waste can be hazardous to the environment, it’s important that as much as possible of it is recycled before being correctly disposed of.
Old piping
If your office is having the plumbing re-done, make sure you keep your old piping. Synthetic PVC piping is favoured over galvanised piping (steel or iron with a protective zinc coating) these days, however these outdated galvanised pipes are a great source of scrap metal.
Decorative features
When redecorating your office, look out for items like brass door handles or unwanted metal ornaments. These items can also be added to your scrap metal pile.
Collecting the scrap in your office for metal recycling is not only beneficial to the environment, but is also a good way to generate some extra cash for office lunches and the like. Metal Men Recycling will give you cash for scrap metal and even offer a 24-hour pickup service.