Household spring cleaning is seen by most people as a tedious task, and a costly visit to the local council landfill. But with a little know-how, your overstuffed garage, dated kitchen and weeds in your garden shed may be a secret source of additional income. Doing scrap metal recycling is no longer solely the task of the professional trades people and demolition crews. Homeowners can find valuable amounts of metals that can be recycled in their own homes. Whether it's a dead television, an old carpet rack, or an obsolete bathroom fixture, these are just some of the household products with high-quality metals, including copper, aluminium, brass, and steel, that local yards are looking for.
Here are the five simplest methods to discover some hidden inside the house scrap metal and get a quick online cash reward for some home garbage.
1. Raid the Kitchen and Laundry (Old Whitegoods)
Don't pay a removal charge to dispose of large appliances when they break down. Here are the high value appliances to look for:
- Refrigerators and Freezers — mostly steel but with a highly valuable dense copper motor coil inside the heavy cooling compressor unit at the bottom back of the refrigerator.
- Washing Machines and Dryers — these large machines contain massive electric drive motors with abundant insulated copper wiring, cast-iron balance weights and structural steel frames.
- Old Microwaves and Dishwashers — microwaves have a magnetron, a piece that contains heavy copper windings and thick transformers. The interior tub of dishwashers is typically made of stainless steel and the water feed lines are copper.
2. Upgrade Your Outdated Plumbing and Bathroom Fixtures
If you have recently remodeled your bathroom, remodeled your kitchen or patched a leaky pipe, then there is a high chance that you have high quality non-ferrous metals in your trash cans. The prices for plumbing metals are outstanding and they are in great demand.
- Copper Pipes and Tubes — old water lines are virtually all copper. Even if the sections are off-cut or corroded, they are of great value. Be sure to cut off any of the lead solder joints to improve them to the highest standard.
- Brass Tapware and Valves — heavy solid brass is used for bathroom faucets, showerheads, garden hose fittings and old gate valves. Brass is a dense metal (non-ferrous) with a high scale price.
- Stainless Steel Sinks — don't let an old double sink rust in the backyard. Clean stainless steel is one of the most recyclable materials, and an excellent material to separate from common sheet iron.
3. Sort Through the Garage, Shed, and Garden Tool Collection
The basic ferrous and non-ferrous scrap metals turn backyard garden sheds and garages into gold mines. These areas tend to become cluttered with old and rusted equipment, as well as broken tools over the years.
- Broken Hand Tools — heavy-duty, dense carbon steel hand tools like steel wrenches, hammers, rusty saws, crowbars and socket sets.
- Roofing, Fencing and Gates — waste corrugated iron roofing, steel mesh fence, old iron gates and aluminium window frames can be piled up to create significant bulk weight in the outdoors.
- Garden and Yard Equipment — domestic steel scrap is readily available from old garden equipment, such as broken lawnmower decks, rusted wheelbarrows, steel weed-eater shafts and old metal patio furniture — as long as you drain any remaining petrol and motor oil from engines before moving them.
4. Collect Obsolete Electronics and Tangled Power Cords
One of the fastest-growing waste streams in the world, obsolete electronics and tangled power cords are a rich depository of hidden precious metals. Anything that is plugged into a wall or has batteries is worth valuable insulated copper wire or special circuit wiring.
- Chargers and Cables — we all have a drawer of “old” phone chargers, loose USB cables, old extension cords and laptop power bricks. These insulated wires add up to a lot of copper when combined in a bucket.
- Dead Desktop Computers — old PC towers are brimming with recoverable components: aluminium heat sinks, insulated ribbon cables, heavy-duty steel enclosures, power supply units (PSUs) and top quality circuit boards sold at a higher price in specialized sections.
- Old TVs and Monitors — old CRT monitors and modern flat screen TVs have heavy internal copper deflection yokes and wiring harnesses.
It may seem like a small amount of metal thrown in there one thing at a time, but it adds up over the course of several months and becomes significant.
5. Salvage Structural Hardware During Home Upgrades
Homeowners tend to discard small hardware items without knowing that they all have material value when they make minor home improvement projects themselves.
- Door Handles and Locksets — an older, heavy, brass or heavy zinc locking set and knob are often used.
- Kitchen Cabinet Hinges and Screws — hundreds of metal hinges, steel drawer slides, and brass pulling handles are created during kitchen cabinet renovations.
- Window Frames — thick, structural aluminium extrusions are used for window frames dating from the 1980s and 1990s. Glass panels are removed safely leaving you with high grade and clean aluminium frames.
The Hidden Perks: Why Digging for Household Scrap is a Win-Win for You
Most people think of recycling scrap metal and saving the environment when they consider taking part in the activity. Although cutting down waste at landfills and conserving industrial energy is great, there are three huge benefits that may only come to you when you start looking for household scrap:
- Instant Financial Boost — everyone can use a little extra money. Don't think of household scrap metal as waste — it's actually cash in the trash, literally. Spend a few hours over a weekend collecting old appliances, brass taps and obsolete copper cords, and convert dusty clutter into digital money deposited straight into your bank account.
- Sort Out Your Own Real Estate — clutter adds stress to the subconscious. Consider the amount of usable space you are losing thanks to a dead refrigerator in the garage, rusted iron sheets behind the shed or broken tools on your workbench. Clear the bulky metal and your car can finally go back in the garage, or you can have a clean, open backyard.
- Save Massive Council Disposal Fees — bulky waste disposal in Brisbane is often very costly. Local council transfer stations levy heavy disposal charges on commercial or non-standard household waste, and private rubbish removal services can charge anything over $100 to pick up big appliances such as washing machines or fridges.
Unlike the days when you would shell out a lot to get rid of items, scrap metal recycling works the other way around — they will remove everything from your hands for free, or even pay you to do so.
Have you managed to clear out the garage, shed and kitchen and have a huge stack of metal that you want to sell? Don't worry about the heavy and sharp metal materials or dirty metal becoming a problem in the clean family car in the rear. Allow the experts at Brisbane Metal Recyclers to make recycling easy. Declutter, open up your garage and get an immediate financial gain. Give the Household Collection Experts a call today on +61 422 894 546 or fill out the Brisbane Metal Recyclers Contact Page to place a quick request for a pick up.