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Scrap metal recycling helps to snag old cell phones and laptops before they reach landfills — but what other benefits exist? This is important considering that “more than 4.4 million tons of used and end-of-life electronics are processed annually in the U.S. recycling industry,” according to, “Recycled Commodities Series: Electronics,” an informative video released by the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) alongside the 2015 E-Scrap convention—which will be held in New Orleans for 2016.
The ISRI report helps to outline the growth of e-scrap recycling, how the U.S. recycling industry has expanded over the past decade, and who benefits.
The growth of any industry is a surefire way to add jobs to the U.S. economy, helping to improve overall livelihood for communities, families and individuals. Within this burgeoning field, the e-scrap industry has created more than 45,000 full-time jobs in the U.S., according to ISRI. Of all of the collected goods, 83% of items are recycled and reused domestically. All-over, the market growth has added more than $20.6 billion to the U.S. economy.
Recycling scrap metal reduces the depletion of natural resources, and walls-up or decreases manufacturing waste. Scrap recycling also requires less energy, and offsets greenhouse gas emissions. For example, one metric ton of electronic scrap from computers contains more gold than that recovered from 17 tons of gold ore!
With the improvements of recycling technology and technology systems, parcels of recycled electronics are able to re-enter the market as individual resources such as a plastic, aluminum, silver, copper—and gold. With the establishment of more third-party certification systems, more used cell phones, laptops, home stereos and other electronics can go back into the market stream and into users’ hands.
General Kinematics hopes that designers and manufacturers continue to be inspired to create electronic products that are easy to recycle!
Celebrating 60 years in business, General Kinematics announces their status as full-time system integrators. Check out the full article here: Read the article Looking for a turn-key recycling system? Check out GK Systems. Have a question? Ask the experts!
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I agree that recycling scrap metal reduces the depletion of natural resources, especially if a lot of people do it. I’ve heard that it produces significantly less CO2 when you recycle instead of excavating. I’ll have to make sure I scrap what I can when I’m getting rid of things.
I loved that you elaborated on the importance of recycling scrap metal to reduce the usage of natural resources. My husband is working on a remodeling project for his workshop, and we are looking for advice about what to do with all the scrap metal resulted from it. I will let him know about the benefits of scrap metal recycling to help him choose the most environmentally-friendly option.
It’s really the environment and us, the people living in it, that benefit from it.