If you run a business and you end up with large amounts of scrap metal, it is tempting to think this metal will now be useless. Scrap metal does not look very valuable. But it is actually worth hanging onto and then recycling metal, for many different reasons. Here are just a few of the main benefits of recycling metal; for businesses, the individual, and the environment.
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Preserves Natural Resources
Metal is mined from the earth but it is not an infinite resource, and mining causes great environmental impact. Once an area has been depleted of its resources of metal, the devastation can be total. Recycling metal means that there needs to be less mining, and therefore less environmental devastation.
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Reduces Emissions
Recycling metal introduces lower emissions into the air that contribute to global warming. Recycling uses less energy, which does less damage to the environment. Mining and processing virgin metal is an energy intensive process, which results in many greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere.
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Builds Revenue
Recycling metal has a cost benefit for many people. These include the person that sold the scrap metal to a merchant, who receives money for the metal. The scrap metal merchant gets money for selling scrap metal to recyclers. And these people make money from selling processed, recycled metal to manufacturers. Plus, a lot of money can be saved by shutting down unneeded and inefficient mines and metal factories.
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Cuts Energy Use
Much less energy is needed to process scrap metal than is needed to mine and process metal from scratch. Using less energy benefits the environment and the economy.
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Cuts the Cost of Metal
When metal is recycled the cost of producing metal goods is reduced. This is because there is no need to spend money on costly mining and metal processing operations. The more people recycle metal, the less new metal will have to be found and mined. The cheaper it will be to manufacture new metal products, and therefore the cost benefits can be passed down onto the consumer.
Metal is a valuable resource and it is important to protect metal in order to help protect the environment. Recycling metal helps to provide a strong source of metal for manufacturing, as well as safeguard the environment, save resources and money, and deliver high quality metal products at a reduced cost.
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