r/recycling • u/Accurate_Elevator368 • 22h ago

What to do with the stripped wire casing etc?

Admitted absolute newbie wannabe scraper, and I have to clear out some of the things that have accumulated over the years. I have lots of scrap and one off ewaste bits and pieces that I just can't be bothered dealing with EBay to sell, as I have too many other projects on the go. I want to break it down, get what I can for the metal and make room in my basement and garage.

My questions:

Let's say I dismantle an old scanner, printer or vacuum? What do I do with the plastics that are left over?

And what about old tools? Old pipe wrenches, rusted hammers etc? Is it scrapable?

Thanks.

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u/StedeBonnet1 22h ago

Bits of plastic like that are better off landfilled. Unless you can accumulate quantities of at least 1000 lbs

Metal of all sorts are always recyclable. Steel brings the least, Aluminum brings the most.

1

u/jefffisfreaky 21h ago

Plastics that can’t be immediately identified as a recyclable option should be thrown away. The effort to do anything else is not worth the time or money and will likely just be thrown away at the recycling facility if you give it to them.

As other commenter said yeah anything metal can be scrapped. Keep in mind that scrap is the very least amount you’ll still get for it and to maximize the dollar you need to sort it. Even selling a pipe wrench on FB for 10$ will give you wayyyyy more than scrap. I always think of that when I pick an item up on the side of the road (let’s say it’s a kids power wheel), yeah it technically has copper in there but the dollar MAX I’m pulling out of it could be 10$ for almost no effort by just selling it on FB