Can You Put Metal In The Recycling Bin?

Metal is at the top among all the things that can be reused, recycled, and help in making some new products. But can you put metal in the recycling bin? Welcome and find yourself well served as we’ll closely examine this matter. Here, we’ll find out what metals are recyclable, what bins are dedicated for them, and answers to a lot more queries like that. 

So, please spend your 10 minutes and get what you were looking for. This is going to be more interesting and a lot more informative than you might have thought. Let’s get started!

Can You Really Put Metal In The Recycling Bin?

There is no one answer to this question because it is either answered in yes or no. You might be worried about finding out what I can put in my recycling bin when the matter with metal is concerned.  

Since we know that almost all types of metals are recyclable, we should look closely at whether these should be kept in a curbside recycling bin or not. 

Metal can go into the recycling bins if your local recycling agency or government has allowed you to do so. But in most situations, they are usually kept separately in the recycling bins based on their category. Or in a single stream recycling bin. 

So, it is always better to call for the local recyclers before you organize your metal products to send them for recycling. 

Can Metals Be Recycled?

Metal can be anything or any product around your daily usage. These non-renewable resources are produced by following a complicated mining process and spending a lot of money, time, and equipment. 

But instead of just mining, can you recycle these metals to transform them into a new shape of a similar product or anything else? Yes, you can do that. 

Despite some types of metals that we’ll look at later on, almost all types of metals are recyclable. 

It doesn’t matter if it is glass, copper, aluminum, stainless steel, or any other metal. It is 100% recyclable and used for the production of new products. 

What Types Of Metals Are Recyclable?

Before considering recycling any metal, you must determine which types of metals are recyclable at those recycling centers. 

Below, I describe some of the highly known metals fully recyclable and accepted at most recycling facilities in your towns. Please have a look!

Products Made From Aluminum Metal:

Aluminum is being used in the production of a lot of products. You must know that all types of products made from this metal are fully recyclable. 

It includes a huge variety of liquid (beer, soda, and food), Cans, small or large aluminum pieces, and anything else made from aluminum. 

Products Made From Stainless Steel Metal:

Stainless steel is a widely used metal in a lot of product manufacturing, including some small products like a spoon to heavy equipment such as machinery parts. 

But it doesn’t matter whatever that product is. If it is made from pure stainless steel, it can be recycled and transformed into a new product. 

Products Made From Aluminum Foil:

Aluminum foil is highly used in protecting food items from getting spoiled. This is another form of metal that is recyclable. 

That Disposal Bakeware:

We get a lot of leftover disposal bakeware that is usually enlisted in the types of metals. All of these are recyclable. These include the products like muffin tins and lasagna trays. 

Those Paint Cans:

Paint cans are relatively used at a bigger scale for keeping paint inside them. Such paint can be used for painting your houses or buildings walls. 

When empty and cleaned, these cans are fully recyclable because they are also made with metals. Either it is iron or stainless steel. 

Aerosol Cans:

Aerosol cans are also made with metal. These can be recycled if you remove the nozzle, and the taps shall be removed anyway. Therefore, these cans are also recyclable. 

Can You Recycle Metal In Blue Bin?

In most countries, what you can put inside a recycling bin is usually decided by that local recyclables collecting agency. 

Or your local govt. Yes, a Blue Bin is widely used and recommended to keep metals inside it. 

Therefore, if you don’t have any instructions regarding keeping metals in a specified bin, you can keep these metals inside a Blue Recycling Bin. 

All types of stainless steel, aluminum, plastic, and aerosol cans shall be put inside a blue bin. 

This will help those recyclable collecting units easily organize and sort these metals into their categories for an easy recycling process. 

Find a blue bin nearby and keep your metal products inside to send them to your nearby recycling center. 

What Metals Cannot Be Recycled?

Even though I’ve said that almost all types of metals are 100% recyclable, there are still some that you may not find worthy of recycling. The following metals are not recyclable, not at home or any nearby recycling center. So, the only place they deserve is a trash bin through which they end up in landfills. These include the following. 

Metals Not Recyclable	Reason For Not Recycling
Paint Cans	All those dirty ones that still have paint inside
Any nails, washers, or screws	Not really recyclable at any facility
Metallic Chip Bags and Candy Wrappers	These usually come back to their original shape when you crumple them. Therefore, they are not recyclable.
Mirrors	Consider donating them if you find any in good shapes
Capri Sun Packs	These and Smoothie Squeeze Pouches are not recyclable due to their very fragile nature
Metal Springers and Razor Blades	Not really recyclable because of the complexities involved
Those Kitchen Utensils	Consider donating them if you find any in good shape.
Those aluminum-lined boxes	They have soy milk, leftover food, soups, etc.

Can You Put Metal In General Waste?

Some metals that are not really recyclable end up in general waste. But you have to be very sure about these types of metals before making them a part of landfills.

Because metals don’t behave in a good manner for decomposing when they are in the general waste. 

For metals, it takes 50 to 500 years for a piece of metal, either stainless steel, aluminum, or anything else, to fully decompose in a landfill. 

This becomes a problem for the environment and always increases the size of those landfills. But it is always a better thing to do with the metals to recycle them and turn them into original raw material. 

Because from that material, who knows what different or similar you can manufacture again? 

Therefore, always consider recycling your metals instead of throwing them into the trash bins, general waste, or simply landfills. 

How To Recycle Metal At Home?

There is plenty of stuff you can do to recycle metals at your home. But first, you will have to learn the full procedure. 

Please follow the steps below to learn how to recycle metal at home. 

Collecting All Types Of Metals, You Have In Your House:

At first, you have to gather all metal products available inside the house so that you may organize and sort them out for better recycling options. 

• Collect all types of Soda, Beer, and those carbonated cans in a blue recycling bin. 
• Those containers with food inside will also go to where you have put your soda or bear cans. 
• At last, collect the remaining used or out-of-use hardware like copper and brass. This might be collected from sole old stuff like door handles, keys, scraps from plumbing pipes, ACs, and stuff like that. Collect these and head to the next step.

Sorting Out These Recyclables:

Once you have collected all types of metals, the next step involves sorting them out. Here is what you need to do in that regard. 

• Consider trying a magnet from your fridge to attach it with the collected metals to see what metals are ferrous. Metals like copper, aluminum, brass, etc., will eventually turn out ferrous.
• Once sorted, thoroughly clean all the metal pieces and ensure they are ready to send to the recycling unit. 

Looking For Any Scrap Center Or Recycling Facility:

In this final step, google metal recycling is near me. Plenty of places offer you this recycling facility on the board. 

They may also offer you some cash for selling these collected metals to these people. So, who wants the cash by selling metals? 

You are probably the one, and you have learned how you perform recycling at home. For more information, you can also watch the below video.

Final Thoughts:

Lastly, whether can you put metal in the recycling bin or not is totally decided by the ones who are responsible for collecting it and recycling it. But for your understanding, you should know that all metals are valuable and can be recycled. So, instead of throwing them into the garbage, give a favor to your country.

Plus, thanks for being here today. If you liked the topic, don’t forget to share and keep visiting for more information about recycling bins. Have a good day!

References:

1. Mann Metals Corporation. 2022. Metals Are Not a Renewable Resource – Mann Metals Corporation. 
2. Johansson, N., Krook, J. and Eklund, M., 2014. Institutional conditions for Swedish metal production: A comparison of subsidies to metal mining and metal recycling. Resources Policy, 41, pp.72-82.
3. Jiang, Q., Leeabai, N., Dilixiati, D. and Takahashi, F., 2021. Perceptive preference toward recycling bin designs: Influential design item depending on waste type, the impact of past perception experiences on design preference, and the effect of color design on waste separation. Waste Management, 127, pp.130-140.