Blog Archive

I have noticed recently in the eastern suburbs that the annual hard rubbish collection is in full swing. All that interesting stuff neatly stacked by the suburban roadsides waiting for re-use, people trawling the streets for useful items that are no longer required by others.

Re-use is the most desirable fate for discarded items with recycling coming in second. All of the hard rubbish items that does not get scavenged eventually get collected by contractors and taken to Mount Wingfield for recycling.

This year I noticed that there was a fair bit of scrap metal and it led me to think that there must be an awful lot of people who have the odd item of scrap at home who are just waiting for an opportunity to dispose of it responsibly.

Scrap steel does not have a great deal of value. However, large quantities are a different thing entirely and that is how scrap metal dealers make their money. The good thing for Zoos South Australia is all of the money that is generated from our scrap metal recycling goes back into conservation.

I guess you are wondering how this recycling process works. Items in South Australia end up at Simms Metals where they are crushed and shredded. The shredded component is then screened into three streams, ferrous metal, non ferrous metal and landfill.

The landfill component is generally all the non metal parts which are currently not economically recoverable. This is why it is important not to dump items that have a low metal component in the scrap bin; those sort Items should be treated as “E Waste” and dealt with accordingly, your local ”E Waste” recycler will take them at some cost.

Examples of things that can be recycled through this waste stream are any item that has a predominately high metal content. This includes hot water services, washing machines, microwaves, driers, roofing / fencing sheets and posts, ovens / stoves, roller doors, metal toasters, metal kettles, washed food tins, old tools, cooking pans, pots and trays, etc.

Examples of things that cannot be accepted through this waste stream are any composite item that has a predominately low metal content, “E Waste” or anything containing or been in contact with household paint or hydrocarbons. This includes LPG gas cylinders, refrigerators, reverse cycle air conditioners, batteries, computers, monitors, televisions, paint tins, oil drums, printers, florescent lighting units etc.

Wayne
Environmental Officer, Zoos SA