Finding Better Manufacturing Equipment

Creating Additional Income For Your Business With Scrap Recycling

8 May 2018

Clarence Gray

Operating a business that uses metal to create a product often means there is some amount of scrap material that comes out of the manufacturing process. It is not usable material for your purposes, but it is still valuable and can create an additional revenue stream for your business if you know how to take advantage of it. Setting up a program to capture and sort that scrap can allow you to recycle it or sell it to someone who will.

 Collecting The Scrap Material

Anytime you start a new program or procedure in your business, it takes a little planning to get it working and recycling or collecting scrap that was previously just discarded is no different. It will take some time to get everyone on board, so take the time to look at what is being done with the scrap currently and how it can be collected without changing too much of the process. If it adds a lot of work to the process, it might not be beneficial to collect it, and the reality is, it might even add cost that does not offset the income. The time spent looking at and streamlining the process is the best way to combat that and may involve getting the people working on the product or a process engineer involved to make it work best.

Finding A Buyer

Once you have identified the best way to collect the scrap metal from your process, you need to find a buyer for the material. In most cases, it is not difficult to find a scrap yard that will work with you to remove the material, but it may depend on where you are located and if there is anyone near you that recycles metal. Local recyclers are most likely going to net you more profit. In some cases, if the metal you use is highly sought after or valuable, selling it to a recycler that is further away is not the worst thing. 

In fact, it might even be more profitable under the right circumstances. Take your time and research the market for the metals you use because prices can change and if you keep a watch on the prices even after you start selling your metal scrap, you may find it is better to warehouse scrap and sell only at certain price levels.

Shipping Scrap Materials

If you find a buyer that you have to ship scrap to, you need to take a look at the best way to do that without cutting into your profit too much. In some cases, trucks are the best option, and in others, rail might be best. This is one more thing you need to research, but if you have a lot of scrap metal coming out of your manufacturing process and the price is right, the income might really make a difference for your company over time.

For more information, contact your local scrap metal services.

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