Month: October 2021

Interco Recycles Foundries & Die Casters Scrap

Interco Recycles Foundries & Die Casters

As one of the largest indoor, nonferrous metal recycling facilities in North America, Interco works closely with the metal casting industry including foundries and die casters. Interco contributes to the vast world of manufacturing recycling by recycling metal scrap, including aluminum, zinc, brass, and bronze. Interco’s experience and extensive partnerships allow them to maximize the return on investment when recycling nonferrous metals. Foundries and die casters around the world rely on Interco for scrap metal recycling.

The Interco Facility is Equipped to Recycle Metal Scrap on a Large-Scale

Interco recycles foundries and die casters scrap at their the 450,000+ square foot recycling facility. The Interco recycling facility is comprised of seven buildings on more than 45 acres centrally located on the Illinois-side of St. Louis in the shadows of the Gateway Arch. The Interco recycling facility processes over 20 million pounds of material per month. The facility boasts a 145,000 square foot processing plant dedicated to the processing of computers and electronics. The remainder of the indoor facility is used to recycle nonferrous metals.

Some aspects of scrap metal recycling can be dangerous. The staff at Interco is highly qualified to safely recycle high-risk materials. Several certifications demonstrate the company’s commitment to safe and secure recycling practices:

  • R2v3 – Responsible Recycling Standards
  • ISO 14001 – Environmental Management Systems
  • ISO 9001 – Quality Management Systems
  • ISO 45001 – Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series Management Systems

Interco Recycles Nonferrous Metals

metal scrap recycling

Interco processes over 12 million pounds of nonferrous material each month. The company uses several different processes to recycle nonferrous metals:

  1. Firstly, both mechanical separators and hand sorting techniques separate metals according to grade.
  2. Secondly, if necessary, the materials undergo processing in the metallic powder and dust separation plant.
  3. Next, a machine shreds the the sorted metals into smaller pieces.
  4. Lastly, the sorted, graded, and processed metals are packaged for shipment to end customers. These customers will refine and smelt the metal into ingots for manufacturers to use to make new products.

Foundries and die casters scrap contributes to both sides of the recycling process. The metal casting processes produces slag, dusts, dross, and off-spec alloys. Nonferrous metals such as, aluminum, copper, lead, nickel, brass, bronze, and zinc make up the majority of these metals. Interco buys these items containing nonferrous metals and processes them into smelter-ready materials. On the other hand, many foundries and die casters use the recycled metal scrap to metal cast new goods.

Maximizing ROI for Foundries and Die Casters Scrap

recycle nonferrous metals

Unlike many recyclers, Interco has many years of experience in mixed load recycling of nonferrous metals and electronic scrap. The company receives approximately 50 mixed loads each day equaling one load every nine minutes. Additionally, Interco understands that many suppliers are unable to obtain the necessary inbound load minimum required by smelters, refineries, and manufacturers. When a supplier recycles metal scrap with Interco, a mixed load can contain five to ten different items. Items could include slag, fume collector dusts, dross, and off-specification parts, among others.

The Interco commercial department has established contracts with smelters, refineries, manufacturers, and mills across the world. Interco sorts, grades, and processes materials into smelter-ready metals, therefore, the need for a middleman or broker is eliminated. As a result, smelters and refineries rely on Interco as a supplier to provide a recurring stream of material. Additionally, the contracts with these companies allow Interco to pay top dollar to their sellers. Therefore, the company is typically able to buy at higher prices than other recyclers who must search for an end consumer.

The Importance of Scrap Metal Recycling

recycle metal scrap

Foundries and die casters are some of the largest contributors to the manufacturing recycling movement. They melt and recast millions of tons of scrap metal every year to create new goods. Foundries and die casters rely on metal recycling for a sustainable source of material. Manufacturers use 15-20 million tons of scrap metal each year in the remake of new metal casting. Otherwise, these scrap metals would go to landfills. Consequently, without recycling, the price of die casting would increase by 20-40%.

Making castings from recycled metals also saves energy and conserves natural resources. Compared to the process of raw materials, castings made from recycled metals use 95% less energy to make. Through recycling, materials do not enter the waste stream. The reduction of recyclable metals entering the waste stream lowers the impact of potentially toxic materials entering the environment. Therefore, the overall strain on landfills and the environment is reduced.

Choose Interco to Recycle Foundries and Die Casters Scrap

Interco specializes in the placement of smelter-ready materials catering to a broad array of industrial, dealer, and government organizations. The company ships nonferrous scrap worldwide utilizing established partnerships with end consumers in the United States, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. As a result, foundries and die casters all over the world rely on Interco to recycle metal scrap.

scrap metal recycling

Interco Specializes in Construction and Demolition Recycling

Interco Specializes in Construction and Demolition Recycling

With 25 years of experience, Interco specializes in construction and demolition recycling. The 400,000 square foot facility has 7 buildings. Expert staff is dedicated to sorting various materials from construction and demo projects. The facility processes close to a quarter-billion pounds of materials every month that can originate from construction and demolition sites. For example, Interco recycles scrap cupronickel, also known as copper-nickel, which is a complex alloy located in power plants. Interco also recycles scrap admiralty brass, comprised of zinc, copper, and tin.

Increasing ROI from Construction and Demolition Recycling

Interco maximizes the return on investment of construction and demolition recycling scrap metals. The company can offer the best pricing on these materials by generating a consistently high volume through mixed and straight loads. Through various sorting processes, Interco offers clean packages to the secondary marketplace. Additionally, the expert Interco team obtains the highest recoverable scrap value through efficient proprietary practices.

Other recycling facilities may act as brokers or the “middleman”. In contrast, Interco takes delivery of the materials and processes them specifically for smelters, refineries, and ingot makers worldwide. The team handles each material differently depending on its condition, quantity, and origin to produce a finished product or package of maximum value to the end-consumer.

Consequently, it is extremely important that the Interco team know not only where the current market is to hedge against potential loss, but they must also know which consumer is paying the highest relative price. This price also depends on the quality of the materials and amount and cost of labor that is required to produce the package. Because Interco matches specific the metallurgical chemistries and form with the ideal end consumers, Interco sells materials in straight loads for the best market price. The more Interco makes, the more the Interco clients make.

Interco Specializes in Recycling Construction and Demolition Materials

The expert staff consisting of over 100 full time employees combined with the large facility size makes Interco a perfect choice as a partner for recycling construction and demolition materials. Interco can receive demo materials in end dumps, by railcar, by flatbed, or in traditional 53’ enclosed van trailers. The facility uses excavators to unload the dumps and railcars to sort on the 150,000 square foot clean concrete slab before micro sortation, repackaging, and baling indoors. Additionally, the recycling facility separates the complex materials that come from loads of construction and demolition site materials by hand if needed.

Sorting these materials helps to extract valuable scrap metals.

  • Copper wire, tube and pipe
  • Brass pipe and fittings
  • Stainless steel
  • Galvanized steel
  • Aluminum pipe and parts
  • Cupronickel pipe
  • Admiralty Brass tube

Interco Recycles Scrap Cupronickel from Demolished Power Plant Facilities

Interco recycles scrap cupronickel that often comes from demolished power plant facilities. Cupronickel is a blend of copper and nickel making it extremely resistant to corrosion from water, especially salt water. Power plants often use cupronickel due to its stable electrical resistance. Most recycling companies reject scrap cupronickel for a couple reasons: 1) they don’t generate enough of the material to provide consistent supply to the end-consumers and 2) they cannot commit to purchasing an uncommon alloy for fear that they might have to hold it through negative market turns.

Unlike many other companies, Interco recycles scrap cupronickel from demolished power plant facilities in straight or mixed truckloads. Interco takes a leading position in the marketplace and agrees to provide scrap cupronickel in specific alloys, grades, quantities, forms, and amounts to end consumers worldwide over a contracted period. Usually this amounts to a premium sale and a higher price paid by Interco to its suppliers.

Interco Scraps Admiralty Brass from Construction Materials

Interco processes scrap admiralty brass often found in heat exchangers and power plant condensers. Many of the older power plants with this material, also known as C44300, have either been set for demolition or torn down already. Since large amounts of admiralty brass are found when recycling construction and demolition materials, Interco has catered to the construction and demolition industry for some time. The Interco team also works with demolition companies to create efficient processes onsite to maximize the price paid for the materials.

For instance, the Interco team has helped many demo companies organize onsite sortation processes to separate nonferrous construction debris from the steel and other material. To separate the scrap admiralty brass from the rest of the demolition materials, Interco often recommends the following.

  1. Remove all metallic pieces from the pile
  2. Sort ferrous from nonferrous using hand sorting and mechanical separation techniques
  3. Visually determine the metal alloy through careful inspection or by using handheld metal analyzers or spectrometers
  4. Eliminate any contamination, parts, or attachments – including metallic powders and dust
  5. Sort like metal alloys into bins for onsite storage and easy transportation

In addition, Interco is able to offer insight into what processes should be handled at the demo site rather than back at the Interco processing facility. The Interco team has years of experience with construction and demolition recycling. Therefore, it is easy to share the knowledge to help its demolition contractor client partners.

Choose Interco to Buy, Sort, and Sell Construction and Demo Materials

After sorting, decontaminating, and analyzing the metal, staff sort the metals into bins for transport to the processing plant. Then, commercial traders sell the admiralty brass to domestic brass mills and ingot makers or export to smelters and refineries.  There, the Interco team will weigh, inspect, resort, and grade every piece of metal. Processed metals follow mill, refinery, smelter, or ingot maker specifications. The metals are packaged and sorted in to 5-, 10-, or 20-ton loads for shipment to the final destination.

The Interco commercial trading department sells the metals in truckload or export container quantities mills, smelters, ingot makers, and refineries. Interco works with suppliers of construction and demolition scrap materials throughout the world to provide the best solution.