Where Does Recycled Metal Go? Insights from an Industrial Metal Supplier

If you’re reading this blog post, then you probably know what we do here at Rescued Metals. For years, we’ve served as one of Southwest Michigan’s foremost metal recycling and industrial metal suppliers. With the help of Kalamazoo community and our neighboring communities, we’ve rescued and recycled tons upon tons of metal since our founding. Thousands of pounds of metal that could have ended up in landfills or in a dump somewhere instead was cleaned, refined, and recycled into products and materials that our community puts to use every day.

However, this all may have you thinking: what really happens to metal after it gets recycled? Well, in this month’s blog post, we’re discussing what happens to metal when you rescue it and the industries that metal serves.

Recycling With an Industrial Metal Supplier

When you recycle with an industrial metal supplier like us at Rescued Metals, a few essential processes happen to prepare those recyclables for reuse.

Sorting. First, we begin by sorting metals based on type and cleanliness. This means figuring whether you’ve got copper, steel, aluminum, or something else, and then determining how pure that metal is through methods such as electrolysis.

Crushing, Processing, and Melting. Once the metal has been sorted, we then crush and melt that metal in order to distill it and remove any impurities caused from plastic, dirt, or corrosion. There’s quite a bit more that goes into this process, for the sake of time, we’re just going to leave it at that for now (though you may want to read future blogs for more information).

Pouring and Reforming. Now that we have a pure, molten metal, we next pour it into molds and let it cool to create billets and ingots.

Transport and Reuse. Finally, these recycled metals have completely been rescued and are sold to different industries and local businesses for use once again. And who knows—after enough time, the metals we ship may be rescued and recycled once again!

Industries that Rely on Industrial Metal Suppliers

Now that you know about the process of rescuing metals, let’s talk brass tacks: where are these metals actually used?

Well, the answer is multifaceted. Once properly recycled, metals can be repurposed for a wide variety of industries. While we couldn’t even begin to list all of the uses for recycled metals (since they’re almost as wide as non-recycled metals), we can give you a sense of how diverse the uses are.

Some of the many uses for recycled metals are as:

• Aluminum Cans
• Aircrafts and Automobiles
• Commercial and Residential Construction Materials
• Home Appliances
• Artwork and Public Installations

Get Quality Recycled Metal at Affordable Prices

As an industrial metal supplier, we believe that our community’s metal deserves a second chance, and our community deserves to benefit from that second chance. For more information on our services or to recycle your own metal with us, click here to contact our team today.