White Goods and Scrap Metal
“White Goods” is the name for non-functioning household appliances: refrigerators, washing machines and dryers, dishwashers, stoves, microwaves, freezers, air conditioners, etc. New appliance retailers often haul away the old appliances for a disposal fee. Freon is a greenhouse gas and must be removed from refrigerators, freezers, and air conditioning units before recycling.
Scrap metal is any ferrous (magnetic) metal, like old cars, tools, or farm machinery. Scrap metal and white goods are found on many farms and residential properties in Taos County and throughout the U.S. Scrap metal is classified as either ferrous (iron and steel) or nonferrous (aluminum, copper, and other metals). You can use a magnet to identify whether your metal is ferrous or nonferrous. Ferrous metals stick to a magnet; non-ferrous metals do not.
Did you know...?
- Although non-ferrous scrap makes up only 10% of the total material recycled in the U.S., it provides half the total value of the scrap recycling industry’s earnings. For example, the U.S. exported $10.4 billion worth of non-ferrous scrap metal to more than 95 countries in 2018 alone.
- According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 27.8% of all recycled ferrous metals in 2018 came from white goods, tires, and furniture, which equals a whopping 4.7 million tons!
- Metal recycling contributes to more than 100,000 jobs in reprocessing for the United States economy.
- Metal recycling brings about $1.6 billion in material sales annually.
- Waste management and recycling industry wages have grown from $2.1 billion to $5 billion.
- Recycling scrap steel and white goods saves enough energy to power 1.5 million homes per year.
- Recycling scrap steel keeps more than 1 million tons of waste out of landfills every year.
*Wikipedia
Recycling White Goods and Steel in Taos County
All Taos County transfer stations have a large 30 cubic yard roll-off container for the disposal and recycling of scrap metal and white goods. The general rule is that the recyclable must be at least 50% metal to be accepted. The service is free.
Tires (the rubber parts) are an overlooked source of scrap metal. Some Taos County transfer stations collect tires in a separate roll-off.
It is environmentally friendly to reuse any material before recycling. Can your old appliance be repaired? Often, the freon in a refrigerator or freezer needs to be recharged to extend the unit’s life; or a minor inexpensive repair is needed. Reuse businesses, such as the Habitat for Humanity ReStore or Goodwill, may haul away usable appliances at no cost. Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace are free web-based tools to find a new home for your old appliance.