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ot- why is there a dearth of aluminum, and cans recycle for only 30 cents?

tnmgcarbide

tnmgcarbide

Diamond
Joined
Jul 6, 2004
Location
N. GA- 33.992N , -83.72W usa
why is there a dearth of aluminum, and cans recycle for only 30 cents?

i would think that with the alleged shortage that
supply and demand would change. 3 years ago , cans and
scrap were 3x modern prices. now i don't wan't to bother.
i'll give my soda and beer cans to the county recycling.
it is cheaper than fixing a perforated tire when driving
thru the fucking metal recycler.
 
Wont see a can here ,there s 10c deposit.......Ally scrap seems to be far below cost of production,probably because aircraft production is stalled to some extent.....Yet I priced some extruded angle for a bathroom fit ,and a handfull came to $1000.
 
In my neck of the woods cans are only 20 cents a pound, about 3-5 years ago they were 45 cents. I just toss them in the recycle bin at the trash convenience site, not worth letting them pile up between runs to the scrap yard.
 
I've read that cans are a specific alloy for making, well cans. I smash them so flat it pisses off the recycler. Actually, they won't say anything to me, but if my kid takes them in, they bitch. Must think the kid's putting stones in before smashing. What they do complain to me about is when mom's hair spry cans are mixed in with the beer & soda cans. They don't like that. Must not be the same alloy.
 
We do work for a large aluminum supplier, they have shut down a number of production lines because of the lack of volume that used to be consumed by the Aerospace industry in making aircraft. Without the volume to justify running these lines, whatever lines for aerospace grade aluminum are left in production operate at a much higher cost. I imagine that we will see high prices for certain grades of aluminum until there is enough volume to allow lower operating costs for the producers of aluminum. Same is true for low prices paid on scrap, reduced finished product demand = lower price paid for scrap.
 
Last edited:
NRDock said:
I've read that cans are a specific alloy for making, well cans. I smash them so flat it pisses off the recycler. Actually, they won't say anything to me, but if my kid takes them in, they bitch. Must think the kid's putting stones in before smashing. What they do complain to me about is when mom's hair spry cans are mixed in with the beer & soda cans. They don't like that. Must not be the same alloy.
Click to expand...


The scrap classification is UBC: used beverage cans. Comprende?
 
Called a local scrappy the other day. They offered $.09/lb. tops for aluminum chips. Hardly worth the gas to take it over there. Much less if they find any steel in it.
 
I used to get £0.50 a kg for alu swarf, recently got £0.25 a kg, not really bothered though because the raw aluminium bar is also considerably cheaper at the moment. I'm not in the business of making a profit from scrap, I just like to get a little back for the trouble of storing it until there is enough to have it collected.
 
NRDock said:
I've read that cans are a specific alloy for making, well cans. I smash them so flat it pisses off the recycler. Actually, they won't say anything to me, but if my kid takes them in, they bitch. Must think the kid's putting stones in before smashing. What they do complain to me about is when mom's hair spry cans are mixed in with the beer & soda cans. They don't like that. Must not be the same alloy.
Click to expand...

My recycler does not like crushed cans because they cube them, 30 Lb bricks. crushed cans don't cube properly.
 
NRDock said:
That makes sense, but if they stop taking smashed cans, mine are going in the trash. I'm not storing full volume cans.
Click to expand...

Me too. I smash them top to bottom and only have to make the trip once a year. It covers the cost of gas and if I can schedule a trip to the machine tool Co. it's on the way so no cost. :-)
...lewie...
 
I'm aware not everyone has the room but I have literal piles of chips and scraps that will sit there until prices go way up. The more people that did this, the more material that would be taken out of "circulation" thus driving prices up.

It's not so much that I want the extra money, its more that I don't want "them" getting it that cheap. I would have a different attitude if new material was 1/3 the price like scrap is.
 
Here you pay a nickel deposit when you buy the beverage. The only way you get it back it to return it. Their is a bar code on the cans which is read by a recycling machine. They won't take crushed cans! And with the virus pandemic going on you can't recycle cans right now! Everybody has bags of cans in their garage right now?
 
My local scrap yard isn't accepting beverage cans because of health reasons. Fears stemming from the rice rabies.
 
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