Scrap

This article contains text that is written in a promotional tone. Please help improve it by removing promotional language and inappropriate external links, and by adding encyclopedic text written from a neutral point of view. (September 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

This article may rely excessively on sources too closely associated with the subject, potentially preventing the article from being verifiable and neutral. Please help improve it by replacing them with more appropriate citations to reliable, independent, third-party sources. (September 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. (May 2022)

Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap can have monetary value, especially recovered metals, and non-metallic materials are also recovered for recycling. Once collected, the materials are sorted into types – typically metal scrap will be crushed, shredded, and sorted using mechanical processes.

Scrap recycling maybe important for creating a more sustainable economy or creating a circular economy, may use less energy, the scrap recycling industry can be a source of employment, from collection and processing to manufacturing using recycled materials and may have less environmental impact than producing metal from ore. Metal recycling, especially of structural steel, ships, used manufactured goods, such as vehicles and white goods, is an industrial activity with complex networks of wrecking yards, sorting facilities, and recycling plants. The industry includes both formal organizations and a wide range of informal roles such as waste pickers who help sorting through scrap.