We’ve recently come across an article that’s incredibly beneficial to those venturing into the art of scrap metal recycling. If you’re struggling to get started, there’s no better place than to start looking in your own home. This particular info-graphic from Sims Metal Management helps to single out five places in your home to search out scrap metal.

At Upstate Metal Recycling we take great pride in taking your collected scrap metal to help avoid your recyclable waste ending up in a landfill. If you’re interested in recycling your own scrap, bring it to Upstate! We’ll recycle your scrap while giving you the best price in exchange! Upstate Metal Recycling will take your car batteries, steel, aluminum, brass, copper, electric wire, cars, shingles, etc. You can even ‘Like’ them on Facebook for a coupon on your next visit to the yard.

E-Waste on the Rise

With the world becoming more and more technology reliant savvy, it seems as though a new tech gadget comes out on the daily.  We all seem to want the best, the fastest and the easiest electronics on the market. If you think about it, even cell phone providers are creating plans that include switching out your cell phone on a six month basis in order to get the newest model…

This isn’t a bad thing, it’s important to be up with the times and technology literate…but there is one downside to the increasing need for new tech products.  What about the E*Waste?

Mashable.com recently wrote an article stating that the amount of E*Waste worldwide is going to increase by at least 33%  by 2017.  E*Waste like other types of hazardous waste is bad for our environment if disposed of improperly. It’s time to take initiative! The article states, “We are a little bit behind compared with countries in the European Union…European countries have had established e-waste recycling programs for more than 10 years, whereas only 25 U.S. states have started similar programs, Linnell said.”

Read the entire article here!

Although the amount of e-waste is on the rise, the amount of e-waste recycling is also on the rise. More and more recycling centers/scrapyards are becoming e-waste friendly to help decrease the amount of waste ending up in a landfill. Don’t forget that every little bit helps!

Do you recycle your E-Waste?

 Are you going to start recycling your E-Waste?

 At Upstate Metal Recycling we take great pride in taking your collected scrap metal to help avoid your recyclable waste ending up in a landfill. If you’re interested in recycling your own scrap, bring it to Upstate! We’ll recycle your scrap while giving you the best price in exchange! Upstate Metal Recycling will take your car batteries, steel, aluminum, brass, copper, electric wire, cars, shingles, etc. You can even ‘Like’ them on Facebook for a coupon on your next visit to the yard.

Four Recycling Facts- Upstate Metal Recycling

As a scrap metal facility, we find it our job  to not only collect your unwanted scrap (while paying you top dollar) but we also find it necessary to inform those who don’t scrap of the several benefits to recycling. Of course the idea of recycling has been on the rise for quite sometime, but lets start putting all these facts into motion!

Four Interesting Benefits To Recycling:

• Recycling saves energy! Even when you recycling something as little as an aluminum can it can provide enough energy to power your computer for three hours.
• The U.S. produces 250 million tons of waste a year. Can you imagine how much this number would shrink if we’d all attempt to recycle more?
• Unfortunately outrageous amounts of garbage and recyclables end up in our oceans each year.  This not only harms the environment, but it also harms the plants an animals residing in the water.
• Recycling your scrap metal can not only be beneficial to your pocket but also to our future generations.  Each time you send your scrap to a scrap metal facility, your scrap has the chance to be made into something new.  This never-ending cycle can provide our future generations with materials while keeping these items out of landfills.

Scrap metal recycling is one of the best kinds of recycling. If you want to earn money while helping create a better and more sustainable future, bring your scrap metal to Upstate Metal Recycling!

Recycling Patio Furniture

Are you looking to purchase a new patio furniture set this season?  Did you ever consider selling your old furniture as scrap metal? Of course there are some requirements before receiving your payout.

Furniture must be made out of:

• Aluminum
• Iron
• Stainless steel

These are usually the only materials besides plastic and wood that patio/outdoor furniture is usually made out of.

At Upstate Metal Recycling we take great pride in taking your collected scrap metal. If you’re interested in recycling your own scrap, bring it to Upstate! We’ll recycle your scrap while giving you the best price in exchange! Upstate Metal Recycling will take your steel, aluminum, brass, copper, electric wire, cars, shingles, etc. You can even ‘Like’ them on Facebook for a coupon on your next visit to the yard.

Burning Wire

If you’re just starting off in the scrap metal scene, it’s important that you learn the basics to proper scrapping. Previous blogs discussed the types of metal that’s acceptable for scrapping, how to organize your scrap and also interesting items that are often unknowingly scrap worthy. This blog will discuss a topic that many are unaware of; wire.

Did you know that burning insulated wire in the U.S. is illegal? It’s illegal due to the federal Clean Air Act due to the release of carcinogens into the air and into the ground. This is a very serious matter including a fine up to $25,000 and the possibility of five years in jail. Some may argue that burning wire is profitable, but it is definitely not worth the risk! For example that copper scrap is worth approximately 2.60 per pound and scrap insulated wire is worth $1.20 per pound, burned wire is worth $2.20 per pound… For a pile of wire that weighs under 100 lbs there’s NO worth in burning it.

If you burned 100lbs of insulated copper wire copper wire, and you end up with less than 60 pounds of burned copper, then that means you have broken even…Again, there’s no reason to burn it.

Whether it’s copper or aluminum wire, insulated wire is not to be burned, even if a scrap yard offers to buy it that way. They know it is illegal and costly, and that is why they are not burning it themselves. (DO NOT continue to work with a yard that practices unsafe and illegal exchanges.) If that doesn’t convince you, do it for your health: the last thing anyone wants to be handling is a hot tangle of carcinogenic wire. Do not get fooled into thinking that burning wire will be profitable!

At Upstate Metal Recycling we take great pride in taking your collected scrap metal. If you’re interested in recycling your own scrap, bring it to Upstate! We’ll recycle your scrap while giving you the best price in exchange! Upstate Metal Recycling will take your steel, aluminum, brass, copper, electric wire, cars, shingles, etc. You can even ‘Like’ them on Facebook for a coupon on your next visit to the yard.

Scrap Yard Tips

Before you haul over your load of scrap to the metal recycling yard, it’s beneficial if the scrap is separated for faster service and a quicker exchange. Here are a few tips for before you leave for the scrap yard.

1. Put your scrap in boxes. For smaller pieces of scrap it’s easier to put your articles into a box or bin in order make loading and unloading easier.  This also makes it easier to distinguish between metals.  If the metal is organized, putting a price on your collection becomes an easier task.

2. Not only should you put your scrap metals in boxes, but you should also separate your wires.  You will probably have wire that is both stripped and unstripped. Separate the bare copper wiring and the other bare metal wires from the metals with the insulation on them. If you find you have a large quantity of insulated wires, you have the option to strip these for the possibility of making more money.

3. If you’re planning on bringing electronics, remember that not all are created equal (especially computer parts). Different types of electronics range in prices.  You may find computer boards, motherboards, CPU’s, hard drives, etc.  Keep these separate due to the fact that some boards may be worth several times more than others.  Make sure you’re knowledgeable when it comes to which boards the scrap yard accepts.

4. Be careful not to mix metals.  Steel and iron can degrade other metals when mixed.  If you’re unsure, use a magnet.  Magnets stick to steel and iron, which makes them a ferrous metal.  If the metal does not stick it’s a non-ferrous metal.

There seems to be a trend in the previous stated tips…(All together now) “It’s best to separate your metals.” Separating your metals will make your trip to the yard quicker and much easier. At Upstate Metal Recycling we take great pride in taking your legally collected scrap metal. If you’re interested in recycling your own scrap, bring it to Upstate! We’ll recycle your scrap while giving you the best price in exchange! Upstate Metal Recycling will take your steel, aluminum, brass, copper, electric wire, cars, shingles, etc. You can even ‘Like’ them on Facebook for a coupon on your next visit to the yard.

Just Another Reason To Scrap Your Metal

It’s no secret that recycling your scrap can help you make some extra cash, but do you realize the true benefits to the environment that come along with disposing of your metals the correct way? When you recycle your scrap you help to preserve natural resources and save energy. Also, you’re keeping non-biodegradable products out of the landfills, which is much healthier for the Earth.

How does this all happen?

Surprisingly, recycling non-ferrous metals causes no loss of chemical or physical properties. This makes for much cleaner air.  The recycling process is more convenient and safer for scrap metals such as albumin, nickel, lead, copper, etc. These metals are incredibly beneficial when it comes to the creation of new products.  Plus, these non-ferrous scrap metals can be recycled over and over again. See why we should keep these products out of the landfills?  Not only can they be reused an endless amount of times, but they also cut back on much needed space in the ever-growing landfills.

Thanks to scrappers, the value of non-ferrous metals has increased in the past couple years.  Not only has the value climbed but the amount of scrap recycled has increased to over nine million tons in 2012.

Please continue to do your part to help the environment by being more conscious when it comes to recycling your scrap.  Again, not only does it benefit your pocket, but it also benefits the environment!

At Upstate Metal Recycling we take great pride in taking your legally collected scrap metal. If you’re interested in recycling your own scrap, bring it to Upstate! We’ll recycle your scrap while giving you the best price in exchange! Upstate Metal Recycling will take your steel, aluminum, brass, copper, electric wire, cars, shingles, etc. You can even ‘Like’ them on Facebook for a coupon on your next visit to the yard.

Can You Scrap Pennies? -Upstate Metal Recycling

The Truth Behind the Penny

Often when the word ‘copper’ is mentioned a mental picture of a penny comes to mind.  I hate to burst your bubble but, pennies haven’t been made out of real copper since 1962. Even then the penny wasn’t fully made out of copper, it was also made with 5% zinc and tin. Nowadays, copper is no longer used for pennies due to the realization that it costs more to make a penny than its worth in US currency. Today’s pennies are made up of 97.5% zinc. Pretty wild!

There’s quite a difference between today’s pennies and this 1937 penny.

There is an estimated 140 billion total US pennies in circulation today. Of that incredibly outrageous number, even if only 10%  of those pennies happen to be from the copper making era, that’s still a hefty 14 billion copper pennies. If you do that math, that’s roughly $380 million in copper profit. Hold your horses friends, although the pennies pre 1962 were primarily copper, it’s not legal to scrap them. In 1974, The Treasury Head made it illegal to melt down currency in order to gain a larger profit. Read it and weep: New rules outlaw melting pennies, nickels for profit.

At Upstate Metal Recycling, we can understand the frustration caused by the inability to scrap these coins, but we can also understand the hassle if we were actually able to collect them.  When taking your items to  a scrap yard the items must be weighed in order to determine authenticity and the price.  When brining in bags/boxes/jars of pennies, many things need to be considered.  The pennies would need to be sifted through to ensure nothing was included in the mix (helping to increase the weight of the change), but also each penny would need to be individually examined to ensure that all were made no later than 1962. Even the thought is tedious!

That’s not to say that one day the ban will be lifted, but for now the penny will just remain a mere collector’s hobby.

At Upstate Metal Recycling we take great pride in taking your legally collected scrap metal. If you’re interested in recycling your own scrap, bring it to Upstate! We’ll recycle your scrap while giving you the best price in exchange! Upstate Metal Recycling will take your steel, aluminum, brass, copper, electric wire, cars, shingles, etc. You can even ‘Like’ them on Facebook for a coupon on your next visit to the yard.

Air Conditioning Thief

A recent string of air conditioning thefts have left Fort Wayne police officers and Twin Oaks Apartments residents angry! As many as 20 air conditioning units were stolen from Twin Oaks Apartments in mid December. It’s apparent that with the winter weather conditions outside that this thief does not anticipate using the air conditioners for keeping cool, but for selling to scrapyards for extra cash.

The thief is more than likely not planning on scrapping to any local yards due to the area scrapyard owners being on high alert. There is an apartment surveillance video posted on Wane.com of the air conditioners being stolen, please contact authorities if you are familiar with this suspect.

Watch the video here: http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/crime/police-searching-for-air-conditioning-unit-thief-

If you know who the suspect is or have any information about these thefts, contact the Fort Wayne Police Department at (260) 427-1222, or CrimeStoppers at (260) 436-STOP (7867).

At Upstate Metal Recycling we take great pride in taking your legally collected scrap metal. If you’re interested in recycling your own scrap, bring it to Upstate! We’ll recycle your scrap while giving you the best price in exchange! Upstate Metal Recycling will take your steel, aluminum, brass, copper, electric wire, cars, shingles, etc. You can even ‘Like’ them on Facebook for a coupon on your next visit to the yard.

Stripping Wires for Copper

Collecting copper wire for scrap money has proven to be quite a popular and profitable hobby. Definitely profitable, if you tend to collect enough of it- and collect it safely and legally!

How do you go about stripping your wires to collect the copper portion?  Do you choose a sharp knife? Have you developed your own wire stripping machine or did you go out and purchase one? We were curious so we ventured on to YouTube to see the many different ways scrappers collect their copper.

Here are just a few videos we found on YouTube of different ways to strip wires.

Also, if you’re interested in recycling your own scrap, bring it to Upstate! We’ll recycle your scrap while giving you the best price in exchange! Upstate Metal Recycling takes great pride in giving you a great deal on all your steel, aluminum, brass, copper, electric wire, cars, shingles, etc. You can even ‘Like’ them on Facebook for a coupon on your next visit to the yard.