I’ve been gathering metal recycling in its own bin and taking it down to the scrap yard for several years now. Most people know the scrap yard as a place you take old car bodies and washing machines, but I enjoy bringing my small household metals in there as well. There are a few reasons why I decide to collect my own household metals instead of putting the tin cans out on the curb and throwing away the rest. First, I can’t necessarily rely on curb recycling services to always recycle properly (instead of throwing all the recycling in the landfill because it has been contaminated with wish-cycled items like diapers). Second, my curbside recycling only accepts tin and aluminum cans - and I am definitely taking the aluminum cans into the Bottle Drop myself because they are worth a dime a piece in Oregon. Third, I like separating the valuable metals and seeing the metal sorting process at the scrap yard up close. Fourth and maybe most important, I am most interested in sustainability, waste streams, and reducing wasted materials in our everyday lives.
Some items that commonly go in my small metal recycling bin at home are: cut wires (I work in robotics), metal sheet cutoffs and ruined bolts (I do robotics and our home repairs), and electronic items (I resell on eBay and sometimes can’t fix electronics I find). Having a scrap metal bin at home is also nice because I can source things that I may need later for home or work projects. I also know that saving scrap metal is a common (and not new) practice for farmers and hobbyists. When I go to farm estate sales, the piles of old metal pipes and metal farm equipment show me that many people like to save metal pieces to do their own repairs. Metal is a valuable material that takes a lot of energy to make, and lasts awhile in the right storage conditions.
While I also could argue that saving scrap metal is worth the money, scrap metal is not worth enough right now for me to actively go out searching for it. When I do gather enough metal to bring in (maybe a large trash can’s worth) it is a nice but small monetary bonus of less than $10 if I don’t have any expensive metals like solid brass. Still, collecting small metal items at home lets me be mindful of what kinds of metal “trash” we would otherwise throw away and remove it before it goes to landfill. It is a nice exercise in sustainability mindfulness.