Am I braking down my mixed metal too much???

I was wondering if i am wasting my time breaking down things too far? I generally take out every screw and bolt and take off every bit of plastic before i throw it into the trailer with the rest of my tin, and steel. will my scrap yard even care or pay any different if there is a little bit of plastic on the bits of scrap. examples would be printers, and VCR, dvd players etc. i take the plastic off from the case and take out the boards and any scrap that has value over tin or steel what is left over is 99% metal with some plastic. do most yards deduct for that? I know i should call the yard and ask them but I don't want to get an answer from them like $30 a ton for everything because they know I'm a noob. i don't want to spend all day making sure every piece of plastic is off if its only going to net an extra $3 per load.
so far for me if its not aluminum copper brass or stainless it goes into the mixed metal trailer. and i am looking at making about 1 load every 2 weeks of about 1000 to 2000 lbs. of mixed.
thanks

Most yards will let you mix a certain amout of plastic in with your metal. It depends on the yard though. What part of Washington are you in?

Kennewick, Tri-Cities

Which yard are you dealing with right now?

My yard will take it if it's 70% metal. The rest can be glass, rubber, plastic, wood, what ever.
I try to keep it at about 90% or better.

the only yard i have dealt with is Twin city metals. the only thing i have sold to them so far is a riding mower but that was before i started scrapping part time. I run a lawn mowing service in the summers and they have alot of scrap mowers I have bought parts off of. There are a couple other yards within a couple miles also. I have not taken my first load in yet of stripped down scrap. I want to fill my trailer first. Mainly doing household appliances and electric motors so far.

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Originally Posted by CAPTSCRAPER

My yard will take it if it's 70% metal. The rest can be glass, rubber, plastic, wood, what ever.
I try to keep it at about 90% or better.

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do they pay you less for your load if its 70 or 80% vs 90%

Have you checked prices at Pacific Recycling yet?

not yet, but both are only about 5 miles from my house. and pacific looks to be more of a professional scrap yard with a good website and clean yard. twin city metals has treated me very well as a buying customer though and given me very decent prices on lawnmower parts. a yard in pasco wanted $30 for a carb off a 19.5hp briggs and stratton twin city charged me $5. I will be calling around when i get ready to haul my load in. if twin city is within a reasonable amount of the others I will take it there. I am big on customer service regardless of what industry it is. I have been in retail management for almost 15 years so its kind of a pet peeve of mine. i will go to somewhere and pay an extra 5-10% more for good service. and like wise i will take a little less for my scrap if the yard treats me good. as long as the yard and i both know that is the reason why I am going there. a little give and take on both ends.

I've used the Pacific yards in Yakima and Kennewick. Both have treated me well even when I don't tell them that I'm a commercial account. I've never tried Twin City Metal. Make sure you take in your UBL and get set up before you take any non-ferrous or batteries in though.

I don't think you know what mixed metal is. At the yards around me, we dont really have a "mixed metal" catagory. We have Shred, and prepared steel. From my understanding, MM is a mixture of different kinds of metal rather than metal and plastic or wood. It sounds like your talking about shred to me. Anyway, I like to have at least 80% metal for shred in my shop. If I'm wrong about MM, someone please tell me. :)

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I was wondering if i am wasting my time breaking down things too far? I generally take out every screw and bolt and take off every bit of plastic before i throw it into the trailer with the rest of my tin, and steel. will my scrap yard even care or pay any different if there is a little bit of plastic on the bits of scrap. examples would be printers, and VCR, dvd players etc. i take the plastic off from the case and take out the boards and any scrap that has value over tin or steel what is left over is 99% metal with some plastic. do most yards deduct for that?

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The yard that I frequent the most lets me mix in some plastic, just depending on the junk. They don't like loose screws, nuts and bolts so I stuff those in microwaves. My plastic I recycle with the city. For example, coffee makers I find a lot of seem to be made more of plastic than any other material. I can't justify breaking down every coffee maker because of its precious metals inside is worth more than being paid for shred. They pay the same amount for shred whether its metal shelving or dvd players. You have to figure out what your time is worth and then decide what items to breaking down that will yield you a higher profit.
When I first started recycling I broke down everything and anything. Then after a few months of this I couldn't keep up with the amount of junk coming in and had to pick and choose what I kept. What I was cashing in hardly paid for my fuel and nothing went towards my time. Unless you have a lot of space, time and a plastic buyer skip breaking down the small stuff.

There is so much you can learn from this website in regards to what you are recycling now. Taking the time to pick through every thread is worth it and can save you from making mistakes that others have. Best of luck!

Hey Storedaddy, I scrap in the tri-cities area also, and I have been going to Pacific for years, they are very easy to talk to . I think up new questions to ask them about every time I go in.Pacific's new yard is pretty nice and easy to use compared to twin's(no flat tires lately).Pacific does shred, unprepared, and prepared .

your right it is shred, I was calling it mixed because some is steel some is tin and some is true "mixed" because I don't want to mess with it. I think i am understanding better shred, prepared and unprepared.

bigjoshl do you specialize in any certain kind of scrap?

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Originally Posted by Storedaddy

I was wondering if i am wasting my time breaking down things too far? I generally take out every screw and bolt and take off every bit of plastic before i throw it into the trailer with the rest of my tin, and steel. will my scrap yard even care or pay any different if there is a little bit of plastic on the bits of scrap. examples would be printers, and VCR, dvd players etc. i take the plastic off from the case and take out the boards and any scrap that has value over tin or steel what is left over is 99% metal with some plastic. do most yards deduct for that? I know i should call the yard and ask them but I don't want to get an answer from them like $30 a ton for everything because they know I'm a noob. i don't want to spend all day making sure every piece of plastic is off if its only going to net an extra $3 per load.
so far for me if its not aluminum copper brass or stainless it goes into the mixed metal trailer. and i am looking at making about 1 load every 2 weeks of about 1000 to 2000 lbs. of mixed.
thanks

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Take a good look at any modern day car, we will do a walk about starting at the rear, protective plastic layer over rear bumper, plastic lenses on the taillights, inside the trunk rubberized floor mat maybe even spray on noise eliminator - looks like under coating, plastic fuel tank, plastic fuel lines, plastic chrome plated trim, plastic grill, front bumper same as rear, plastic splash guards under the fenders, open the hood plastic radiator shroud, overflow and window washer, emissions tank, inside the car plastic door panels, rubberized mats or synthetic carpet, plastic shift console some door skins are plastic or carbon fibre.

I'm allowed four tires and it does not matter if they’re on the vehicle or inside.

And your worried about leaving a bit of plastic with your scrap, yes I would say your over working it.

That's why they call it shred, separate the wheat from the chaff.

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Originally Posted by Storedaddy

your right it is shred, I was calling it mixed because some is steel some is tin and some is true "mixed" because I don't want to mess with it. I think i am understanding better shred, prepared and unprepared.

bigjoshl do you specialize in any certain kind of scrap?

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Thanks for explaining that to me. I learn something new everyday on here!

A majority of the Ferrous material we buy at our yard is graded as Shred. We allow between 10%-20% of a shred load to be waste(plastic, glass, rubber, insulation and the like). If a load appears to have an excessive amount of waste, we may take a weight deduction, but we do not typically change the price per pound except in certain circumstances.

If steel is totally clean you should be able to get paid at a higher grade than basic Shred. A lot of yards separate out steel that is totally clean and call it either Baling or Busheling. If you have steel that is totally clean ask your yard if they pay more for these grades.

Storedaddy, I don't really specialize , but I like ewaste the best because I can breakdown stuff with my kids and stay busy around the house. I do property cleanups and my 12 yr old son helps some but he isn't up to torching and running the demo saws yet , but he runs a mean screwgun. I guess I do specialize in breaking stuff, if I can tear it apart and make more I will, but I don't rely on scrapping to live , so I can take my time and break stuff just see what makes it tick.

By me its Sheet iron

Light iron by me.

I put plastic, glass, wood, rubber all in

If it is majority metal, it goes. Scrap yard has agreed with me thus far, so use your judgement.