How to Recycle Metal Bottle Caps, Razor Blades, and Other Small Pieces of Metal

A lot of recycling facilities won’t accept bottle caps, razor blades, or other small pieces of metal for various reasons. One reason being size. The pieces can jam up sorting equipment at recycling plants and razor blades can pose a safety hazard to workers and volunteers who are handling them. Also because of size, the sorting equipment has difficulty detecting and sorting the bits into the appropriate types of metal.
Well, fret not! I have a quick “hack” that can help get those pieces sorted and recycled without posing any risk to the ones sorting or the equipment. I would like to note that this hack was mentioned to me from someone that works in a recycling plant.

Separate your Small Pieces into Types of Metal

Is it steel or aluminum? One way to check is to see if a magnet sticks. If it does, then it’s steel. We want to make sure that we group all like metals together to ensure that they are properly sorted and recycled and not mixed.

Crimp the Pieces into a Can

Once all pieces are sorted, crimp the steel pieces into a steel food can and the aluminum pieces into an aluminum soda can. Make sure you crimp them in tightly so they do not slip out.


 

Toss into Your Recycling

Now you can toss the cans into your regular recycling. The pieces will get properly recycled and pose no risk of injuring anyone or damaging sorting equipment.

These extra steps ensure that no metal pieces end up in a landfill and you can feel confident that they are getting recycled. Before taking these extra steps, contact your local recycling facilities to see if these items are accepted on their own. That will save you some extra work.

 

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