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So I live in a area were the nearest scrap yard is about 30 miles away and a lot of folks in my area turn in scrap but don't like how far they have to go. I been a scrap seller all my life and know some of the legal requirements to buy scrap, like ID checks/logs, logging what you buy, taking down plate numbers and so on and I know a little about the safety stuff but that's about it.

My thought would be to be a middle man, take e scrap, copper, brass and maybe aluminum and take in into a yard or send it to board sort. I know theirs a few folks here who take in a lot of scrap and I was wandering if they could share their knowledge on the topic.

Thanks.

Hopefully some of this is useful:

Something I know the small yard I referred to in the "shipping supplies" thread did starting out; they initially were an aluminum cans (and probably light steel) only recycler. Kept them from having to do as much paperwork based on the laws at the time. Think they also did some cardboard or similar material starting out.

I know from experience with two different Texas yards, if you can take plastic, paper, cardboard when nobody else will, you'll get customers that otherwise wouldn't bother recycling at all cause they want to be responsible with their waste and aren't worried about making money off it. They don't necessarily bring a lot of metal, but they will bring it if they are bringing in the other. And if you stop accepting those things, those customers tend to go away. Might not make or break the business but something to consider.

I guess all that is to say, consider what material you want to take and figure out your state laws; you might start off with fewer materials and as you figure out any requirements add more materials.

Then you also need to know your competition, if you don't have a refiner to sell direct to you may be a customer at your competition where your customers may be coming to you for the convenience of not driving 30+ miles vs a high payout and you take all of that material 30 miles yourself.

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Here to learn more so I can recycle more
My grades are my own opinion and not an official grade from Boardsort

thanks for the info, I don't want to take in plastic or anything like that, there is no where around here to take it and the local trash comply gives out second bins for free for that kind of stuff. They charge to take it if you have more then 2 bins a month. But its a good idea.

I was thinking of doing something like the yard you spoke off, just taking e scrap and copper/brass, I don't want to mess with cans, to messy. I don't have the room for steel tho.

yeah I would be driving to a local yard myself. I know a lot of folks in my area just give their scrap to a local guy for free, figured if I pay a little I can scoop up a lot of business.

Cardboard is a great add on. Take/keep/accept boxes broken or full.

I use a commercial paper shredder to turn clean cardboard into shipping material. It’s designed to strip shred books and file stacks. Covers and all.
Just sort first don’t simply shred.
Remove any wax boxes, oil infused (like pizza) and packing tape.



I have a buyer for paper if I’m over a compressed box truck load so I cut the taped sections off rather than peal tape. They don’t care and it keeps the work needed low.

I also use a small-ish industrial shredder to shred aluminium, tin-coated steel, copper, and brass. But keep in mind that question about clean brass is much more important here. What you opt to shred must be 95-99% clean for an upstream buyer.

I can also sell shredded plastics but that takes a LOT of time to build up a trust agreement with the buyer. And I don’t do it often since it’s a chore in the amount of sorting needed.

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This single bottle has 4 sort classes

To sell shredded plastic you must properly sort everything involved.

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