How do you maximize the value of your steel scrap metal in a fabrication or installation manufacturing facility? Well the beginning of the answer to this question starts in a very unlikely place–your purchasing department!
Linking the knowledge of the metal you buy to make your new products to the operations team handling the scrap can be the beginning of earning your organization more money for their steel scrap metal. Most people don’t realize the varying nature of alloys a fabrication operation uses for their customers. From mild steel and the A36, 1018 or 1040 mild steel alloys to the hardened AR400/500 each shop can be working with many alloys at a time. With a little knowledge from your recycling partner a little sorting or even intentional co-mingling to save on hauling costs (more on that later!) can help your company make a great deal more money for your scrap.
The reason behind this all is how scrap metal yards get paid. Mill scrap can be cut typically in 3-5 foot lengths and has allowances for steel alloys reinforced with a certain level of copper and nickel in them. Foundries on the other hand often require much smaller sizes for their specs, 18×24 inches or 24×30 inches in many cases and they have much tighter tolerances on chemical composition of the material. Many have differing cutoff levels for manganese, copper and nickel. Even though all of these elements have value, and obviously copper and nickel have much greater value than manganese they can not be tolerated in the melting process by foundries for the product they are making. Foundries pay scrap metal yards at a higher rate than the mills, often $100-$150 a ton higher and if we can identify this material in your load we can pay you more money. (All prices in this article are from information referenced in Fastmarkets, our independent source for scrap steel pricing in the Philadelphia market.
Often times we will visit a customer when doing a metals assessment and see a mixed metal container with various alloys and types in it. Differing types of material can include lite iron like banding and other very light gauge mixed metal and contaminant materials, various grades of wire, steel turnings and mill unprepared and prepared steel like pipes, rods and the heavy nickel and copper added alloys mentioned above. Other customers will put galvanized in with the miscellaneous steel and all different types of foundry steel box tubing, angle and plate in the same dumpster. We also will see some customers dumping in non-ferrous metals like copper, brass, aluminum and stainless in the bin, not segregating to get the value.
At Sahd Metal Recycling we do offer a premium for foundry cut material that is separate and some customers even will process the material down to 18×24 inches for a prepared foundry spec. The companies willing to segregate out all the types of steel obviously will get the best pricing. If your company does not have time to process the material but would like to garner the best possible price for steel scrap we do work with customers on grading out their material as it comes in and giving them category pricing. This is part of our promise for transparency in all we do, with our formula pricing you see the number we get from our end customer and the price you get for your materials, segregated in dumpsters or evaluated in a mixed load.
One of the biggest reasons that this process is all possible is our location. Sahd Metal Recycling serves Lancaster, Lebanon, Dauphin and York counties and we are blessed with three very active local foundries that buy scrap metal if segregated and processed correctly. Donsco in Wrightsville, ASC Engineered in Columbia and Buck Foundry in Quarryville all buy steel scrap with these more valuable tighter specifications. This proximity to such vibrant foundries lowers our freight costs and allows our pricing to be more competitive for you.
So understanding the difference in the alloys your company is purchasing and the drops and scrap you are producing is essential in maximizing the value of your metal. Not all steel scrap is created equally, especially so for fabricators, manufacturers and installers!
For more information on the details of our commercial recycling programs, see the blog linked here:
