Two reminders: we recycle aluminum and only aluminum, and we only keep scrap steel that is potentially useful.
Aluminum is the only metal we commonly use that is worth the effort of recycling. Aluminum chips and shavings should be put in one of the two buckets marked for that purpose. We have a separate vacuum strictly for aluminum also. It should be periodically emptied into these buckets. The aluminum will be mixed with dirt, dust, and coolant; that can’t be helped (and thus I created a procedure for washing and drying the aluminum before taking it to be recycled). But you should avoid contaminating it with other metals. Any mixture of metal chips should be discarded.
Small aluminum pieces should be put in the Aluminum Scrap Bin unless it’s really small, then it goes in the chip buckets.
Steel and other metal chips should be discarded. Steel and other metal scrap pieces should only be put in the Steel Scrap Area if they are potentially useful to others. Solid pieces are more valuable in general than tube. Pieces covered in random or excessive welds should be discarded. (The welding area has its own scrap bins. These are curated by the welding instructors and have different rules. But welding practice pieces should never end up in the main steel scrap area.)
There is a new bucket in the Steel Scrap Area for smaller items, which weren’t well contained before. But very few small pieces should be kept; most have little potential use. Steel tube scrap shorter than about 6" should be discarded.
(Yes, it is a new bucket. Someone had misappropriated one of the aluminum chip buckets for this purpose, even altering the label I put on it. If you see an unmet need, tell a steward; DO NOT just re-designate items that already serve a different purpose!)
I culled the Steel Scrap Area pretty thoroughly today. People have clearly been putting their random cut-off pieces there, as if it is a recycling area. It is not. Please be more deliberate about what you put there; everything else should be thrown out.
I’m basically just continuing the policy I inherited, but my understanding is that it comes down to environmental impact vs. effort.
Refining aluminum ore requires 19 times more energy than recycling existing aluminum alloys. This substantial difference means recycling aluminum has a big impact.
Steel isn’t such a clear environmental winner, mainly because there is no such thing as “steel”. There are thousands of iron alloys, and recycling them mixed together requires almost as much processing as refining the ores themselves.
@JoeN has usually taken our metals in for recycling, so he would have to answer about their policies for accepting steel. I don’t know if any require any degree of separation between alloys or not.
A second full recycling stream would mean a third special vacuum, chip bins, and such. But machining steel doesn’t generate the same types of easily gatherable chips, so we could dispense with that. I suppose we could have a bin for offcut pieces and such, assuming a recycling place would take them.
But compliance with the aluminum recycling has been bad enough that I’m wondering if it’s even worth the effort.
If someone wants to research steel recycling – most of my knowledge is second- and third-hand and could be wrong – and take charge of it here, top to bottom, they are welcome to, and I’ll provide space and resources as I can. But I don’t have the time or energy for it.
The recycling yard we take our auto parts to accepts it all, and it doesnt need to be processed first. Aluminum of everything goes one place, steel goes the other.
If your not worried about money, I would just have one general bin for steel cutoffs, no millings. Then one bin for all Aluminum you care to recycle, no need to wash it.
OK, we can put steel for recycling here for now. I even pulled the stuff I threw away yesterday out and put them in here, so it’s more than half full. I’ll add a label and get a better bin in a better location later.
I have always wanted to take bits of steel and aluminum to practice welding and CNC machining.
It was always a concern of mine that someone would get upset that I was stealing the recycling material, or that I might grab part of someone’s project.
Not that the concern was well founded, but I have dealt with more drama from the community than I care for. Can we get some clear signs? I can help.
Anything in the labeled scrap locations is fair game to be used however you want, as is anything in the recycling/chip bins or in the trash. I put a label on the brand new steel recycling bin as well as the small pieces bucket in the existing scrap area. Everything else was already labeled.
If the material is not in one of those labeled areas, don’t take it.
The welding area has its own scrap area under the table there. It actually has a bin but it’s overflowing. I have no clue about the disposition of that material @jamesfreeman, what is the policy regarding that material?
