Woman's Day: Recycle Everyday Items

A recent Woman's Day article listed eight different items that some people may be surprised to find are recyclable. One of those items listed were "Kitchen Appliances."

They stated:

If it’s time to retire a nonworking appliance, call your city or county recycling coordinator to ask about bulk waste pickup, or check Recycle-Steel.org to find a nearby steel recycling center. “Even nonworking appliances have a second life,” says Gregory L. Crawford, executive director of the Steel Recycling Institute. “For example, we get about 123 pounds of scrap steel from a full-size refrigerator,” which can go toward making everything from guard rails to appliances.

The 123 pounds recovered from that full sized refrigerator adds up when you consider that 56 million appliances are recycled per year. I guess not everybody is surprised to hear about their recyclability!

One of the biggest reasons to recycle your appliances, apart from steel's continuous lifecycle as a material, is the conservation of landfill space. It is estimated an additional 9 million appliances are disposed in landfills each year which presents a large opportunity to improve on the previously mentioned figure.

Nearly 12,000 locations accept appliances, according to the Steel Recycling Database, which cover over 134 million Americans. In addition to containers, automobiles and scrap they help make steel North America's #1 most recycled material. So while some people are surprised that appliances can be recycled easily and frequently, we hope they will continue to surprise their friends by spreading the message.

Blacksburg, Virginia Middle School Recycling Deconstructed Steel

Not many things can last for over fifty years but the steel supported structure of Old Blacksburg Middle School in Montgomery County, Virginia has stood the test of time and now has been deconstructed to allow the steel to be recycled and continue their continuous life cycle.

Situated on Main Street in Blacksburg, the 20 acre site will have over 660,000 pounds (330 tons) of steel be salvaged. The 330 tons is about the same amount of steel it’d take to construct over 30 school buses which would be capable of transporting over 1750 kids every day to class.

The demolition company, Sayers Construction Co. will sell the material to New River Recycling which will help lower the costs of the demolition to the County.

“We just don’t believe in throwing something away and buying new,” explained Mike Sayer, owner of Sayers Construction. “We’ve always tried to do something with materials rather than just [throwing them away].”

The steel scrap taken from the buildings will be made into beams and rebar for other buildings thanks to its continuous life cycle. Other materials would have to be disposed of or used differently.

“Steel is a great material to [work with] and to recycle,” concluded Sayer.

The deconstruction projection is scheduled to be finished at the end of September with the property being opened up for retail, business space and residential development.

For more information on steel and its vital role in construction, please click here.