Recycling is a beneficial process for the environment and businesses. It also allows you to contribute to making this Earth a better place to live. Furthermore, it gives old materials a new life and helps reduce the landfills, thus protecting the environment. Amongst the various types of scrap, scrap metal is considered the most dangerous waste for our environment and needs to be recycled properly to free the landfills.
Effect of COVID-19 on the Metal Industry
The corona virus has affected the health sector and has left its mark on every field, even the business sector. Likewise, it has also affected the recycling market of metal scrap. The main factors affecting the growth in the recycling market of metal scrap in Liverpool are the increased demands of metals like steel and the increase in environmental concerns in 2021.
Many scrap metal recycling companies could not bear the continuous loss due to the pandemic; they had no money to pay their workers, and unfortunately, had to shut down. While on the other hand, many scrap metal company owners have decided to continue work despite all the losses; they want the cycle to keep moving. Many developed countries like the UK have also been severely affected by this disease. The shipment of different metals was stopped in the UK, due to which the scrap metal market faced some significant losses. Popular metals like aluminum also faced shortage problems leading to the closure of most of the aluminum smelters in the UK. Shortage of one type of metal results in an increase in the demand for other metal types. When exports were banned, and metals like steel and aluminum were not available, people started moving towards metals like copper. Many countries have started using their reserves due to prohibited exports. This has adversely affected countries importing and exporting metals.
Value of Scrap Metal Industry in Australia
The prices of metals continue to fluctuate in the market. However, if we talk about the year 2021, the prices have experienced some severe rise and fall. According to the latest market research reports, the prices of different types of scrap metals are as follows:
- The most demanding scrap metals are iron and steel; they are being sold at a rate of $0.10 per kilo.
- Then comes copper; it has many types. The most commonly used coppers are heavy copper and bright copper, sold for $5.71 and $6.38 per kilo, respectively. Other types of copper include braziery copper worth $4.70 per kilo and copper tank for $5.04 per kilo.
- Stainless steel is being sold for $1.26 per kilo, and 316 stainless steel is sold for $1.68 per kilo.
- Lastly, aluminum is being sold for $1.01 per kilo.
Do keep in mind that these rates were quoted when this article was written, and thus differences may be found.
Effect of Covid-19 on Scrap Metal Recycling Outlook 2021
On the brighter side, countries are now more focused on recycling their metal scrap to fulfill their metal requirements. As a result, the scrap metal recycling market has raised a lot in the year 2020-2021. With the development of sorting systems, metals can be divided into ferrous and non-ferrous groups by using a combination of AI/ML image processing and sensor fusion technologies. It has made recycling more manageable and has opened up new opportunities for the scrap metal recycling industries. Other ways to divide scrap metal are by type of scrap (old scrap and new scrap), type of metal (ferrous and non-ferrous), and end-user (automotive, building and construction, shipbuilding, and manufacturing equipment).
Metals are materials that can be used and recycled repeatedly with the conservation of the same quality. Some of the commonly recycled scrap metals in Liverpool include:
- Copper:
Copper is used in a majority of electrical devices. In the year 2021, countries have started recycling copper from scrap. However, extracting metal from scrap and purifying it to form some of the finest electrical appliances is very expensive. Therefore, companies have chosen some fixed resources to extract this metal; this helps in reducing the cost of purification. Additionally, as copper is being recycled, the demand for natural resources to produce new copper has been reduced. In the current pandemic, about 30% of copper is being recycled, and 70% is mined. As more and more copper is being recycled, the need for mining has reduced.
- Aluminum:
Like copper, aluminum is also gaining popularity in the recycling industry. Due to its versatile nature, aluminum is considered an outstanding candidate for recycling. Dealers have discovered methods to recycle aluminum from scrap in the most cost-effective manner.
- Steel:
Steel, with its incredible strength and durability, is the most demanding scrap metal in Liverpool. A country cannot meet the objectives of a smooth economy until it has the desired amount of steel. Furthermore, it avoids an industry using 1.5 tons of new iron ore, half-ton of coal, and tons of water for every ton of recycled steel. Therefore, recycling industries are recycling steel in large amounts and are looking for methods to obtain this metal cost-effectively.
- Zinc:
Zinc is not only popular for its corrosion-resistant properties but is also famous for the diversity of its uses. It is popular in the recycling industry and is used to protect other metals from corrosion.
In short, scrap metal recycling industries have expanded about 6% in the year 2021. The advancement in this field is mainly due to the shortage of metals and the ban on export in different parts of the world. Thus, on one side, COVID-19 has badly affected the metal industry, but on the other side, it has motivated us to recycle our metals and make the best out of them.
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