How to Get the Most Value for Your Electronic Scrap Material: A Guide
Scrap metal recycling repurposes millions of tons of metal annually, helping reduce the need for more mining of various metals. But much of this metal is steel or iron from appliances, furniture, or vehicles.
What about electronic scrap metal? Electronic scrap (or e-scrap) is an essential consideration for any business, company, or other organization that uses electronics.
Do you want to learn more? Read on for your complete guide to e-scrap and learn how to get the most value for your electronic scrap material.
What is E-Scrap?
E-scrap, also known as e-waste, is composed of electronics that are no longer useful. For example, old computers, scanners, printers, or other electronics your business no longer needs are all considered electronic waste.
While it might be tempting just to throw these old electronics away, that creates a lot of waste while losing you money; there’s still value in many of these old electronics products.
One of the primary values of e-scrap is the inherent metal value in old electronics. Many computers and other electronics contain metals like aluminum, copper, steel, and even gold or silver.
Scrap recyclers will pay well for these old electronics, particularly in bulk. Precious metal recovery is a big business that can do a lot to retrieve valuable metals from electronics and recyclables.
But how do you make sure you’re getting the most bang for your buck?
Getting Value Through Proper Processing
To ensure you get the most value from your e-scrap, it’s important that your materials are appropriately processed. It’s essential to take your scrap electronics to a place that knows what they’re doing and will process your equipment correctly.
A reputable electronic recycling plant will separate the metals, plastics, and other components through various processes, getting them ready for resale. Some of the methods used include magnets and hand and water separation.
If you’re uncertain that a particular company will do its part to process your e-scrap effectively, you can hire an on-site representative through Ledoux. This will ensure that you don’t lose any materials to theft or bad handling and get the best return for your shipments of old electronics.
Importance of Correct Sampling
It’s essential to pull a sound sample so that you can receive a precise analysis of your scrap materials.
An electronic scrap testing company can do just that with recycled materials. Ledoux can pull samples and have them quickly and accurately analyzed in the laboratory. Then both you and the recycling plant know what your scrap is composed of and, more importantly, what it’s worth.
The good news is the samples don’t even need to be that substantial. A reputable lab needs only 50 and 100 grams of 200 mesh ground material to provide an accurate assessment of your investment.
Learn More About Testing and Selling Metals
Now that you know more about e-scrap and how you can still gain value from it, don’t hesitate to find a place that will pay you what your waste is worth. That way, you’ll get something back from your old computers instead of just sending them to the dump.
If you’d like to learn more about electronic scrap testing, reach out to us today. Our ISO 17025 certified laboratory can assist you with all of your metallurgical testing needs.
Published March 24, 2022.
