3 Environmental Advantages to Scrap Metal Recycling

Recycling scrap metal is an important part of preserving our planet. On the other hand, mining is the process of obtaining minerals from a mine which contributes to erosion, deforestation and contamination of soil, ground, and surface water. The negative effects of mining can lead to health issues in local populations. Still, recycling metal is extremely important, especially today when the planet is on an irreversible decline.

Metal products are used daily in the average household. In fact, the apparent consumption of aluminum in the United States totaled 3.4 million metric tons in 2019.

Why Should You Recycle Scrap Metal?

Metal is obtained through mining of metal ores and most metal ores are found in untouched, uninhabited landscapes. Recycling metal can benefit the environment by avoiding mining and therefore the destruction of landscapes as recycling metal does not involve the extraction of non-renewable metal ore.

Saving Natural Resources

Recycling conserves our resources as with the practice of mining, we reduce our resources. The act of recycling uses a lot less energy than needed to mine and to process the new materials. Natural resources such as wood, water, minerals, and fossil fuels can be conserved when recycling. In fact, with every ton of steel recycled, 2500 pounds of iron ore, 1400 pounds of coal and 120 pounds of limestone are therefore conserved.

Reduces Environmental Pollution

Electronic waste can negatively impact the environment if not properly disposed of. For example, if your laptop ends up in a landfill, substances such as lead from the battery can leak into the soil leading into our water systems. Additionally, mining, processing, and transporting requires a lot of energy which then results in large amounts of CO2 being released into the atmosphere. Recycling uses only a small portion of the resources required for mining, so it is a much more sustainable option.

Saving Natural Habitats

Mining is impossible without disturbing the surrounding habitats. Beyond the risk of soil and water contamination, previously undisturbed landscape and homes of wildlife are destroyed.

Most recyclable metals can be processed indefinitely without any loss in their quality. These metals include aluminum, nickel, lead, tin, brass, silver and zinc. In fact, metals such as aluminum and copper can save you more than 75% in energy bills when using recycled metal instead of natural resources too.

Recycling with Interco Helps the Environment

Founded in 1996, Interco has grown from an electronic scrap recycling company to a comprehensive processor and recycler handling nonferrous, industrially generated metal-bearing complex residues, most battery chemistries, and catalysts.

Interco is centrally located on the Illinois-side of St. Louis on a 40-acre industrial complex comprised of 7 buildings with 400,000 square feet of warehouse space. As a result, Interco specializes in straight or mixed scrap loads. With a staff of 100 full time employees, Interco receives, processes, upgrades, repackages and ships approximately 15,000 tons of material monthly.

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