separation of waste in black bin (especially ferrous metal)

magicbastarder

i have a bucket in the shed into which i throw scrap bits of metal; nails, screws, there's an old steel wok in there too at the moment. maybe once a year or two i bring it to the metal recycling place nearby. am i wasting my time? i.e. are such ferrous metals automatically removed from waste from the black bin and recycled, or does such processing take place?

i'm in the suburbs on dublin's northside, so i suspect a lot of waste from here could go to the incinerator, and assumed they prefer to remove metal before incinerating it.

Wanderer78

id love to know this myself, but i think you might be better off keep doing what you re doing, id like to think theres some form of screening prior to incineration, but you d have to wonder how effect it is, its an astonishing amount of waste to screen, and i suspect if some metal gets through the system, it just gets landfilled with the rest of the ash

magicbastarder

the reason i mentioned ferrous metal is that (i assume!) should be child's play to take out, just a big electromagnet required.

i have a vague memory of seeing something about being able to ping out non-ferrous metals by inducing eddy currents in them?

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118950493#Comment_118950493

yea you are right, metals can be pulled out by electromagnets, but id have to wonder if thats actually occurring at any great extent in our incinerators, theyd be expensive to install and run, and would operators be willing or able to do this! i wouldnt be surprised if very little screening is occurring pre incineration

L1011

Black bin waste is gone over for potential recoverables, by at least some providers. Cheaper for them than paying for incineration or landfill.

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118950563#Comment_118950563

they are indeed, i had a relative work for such a company for a while, but id imagine when it comes to incineration, and all other processes, throughput is critical, i.e. getting as much as possible through as quick as possible is key, in order maintain high efficiency, so therefore it would make sense that some recoverables are getting through

magicbastarder

might just be easiest for me to email greyhound and ask.

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118951265#Comment_118951265

....or would a company just fill you with a pack of lies, so to give the impression of compliance?

magicbastarder

on a webchat with one of their people

"We don't allow any metal items in any of the bins. Also, we have sorting facilities which separates the waste types automatically."

"surely lots of waste contains metal, e.g. soiled aluminium foil from cooking, etc.?"

"Yes. Such metal items are allowed in the bins."

well, that settles that.

Capt'n Midnight

Light metal like cans should be OK, but big bits might jam up the works or be a potential injury hazard for workers sorting it out.

It would be much easier to separate out metal from ash than mixed waste. As long as it isn't something like aluminium that melts at a lower temperature.