Attention Recycling Centers: These Often-Overlooked Items Can Generate Big Income for Your Town
If you’re in charge of running or overseeing your city’s recycling center, you know how your facility operates. People pull up in cars or trucks and deposit all kinds of items in your yard – paper, plastic, aluminum cans, and garden waste. You’ve seen it all before – or have you?
Today’s the day to turn your attention to the areas of your facility where people drop off appliances and electronics for recycling. Here are some often-overlooked items that contain valuable precious metals. If you set them aside and send them to a qualified gold refiner, platinum refiner, palladium refiner, rhodium refiner or silver refiner, they could generate a lot of money for your town:
- Air Conditioners
- Appliances, including gas and electric stoves, clothing washers and dryers, and dishwashers*
- Audio equipment, including components and speakers*
- Automotive components and accessories*
- Cable and satellite television equipment*
- Camcorders*
- Cell phones*
- Coffee makers and electrical hot pots
- Computers – including older desktops and laptops of all kinds*
- Computer peripherals, including monitors, modems, and keyboards*
- Construction and industrial equipment*
- Copiers
- Cutlery and flatware
- Digital and film cameras*
- Electrical equipment of all kinds, including wall clocks, answering machines, humidifiers, and GPS units*
- Electrical toys and games
- Fax machines
- Home alarm equipment
- Home wiring, breaker boxes, circuit breakers, and other electrical equipment
- Hot tubs and spas
- Industrial equipment
- Jewelry*
- Lamps and light fixtures
- Landscape lighting and transformers
- Metal and metal-plated windows and window frames
- Metallic paints
- Microwaves*
- Musical instruments and equipment, including electric guitars, keyboards and amplifiers*
- Opening systems for fences and gates
- Photographic and x-ray film
- Plumbing parts
- Power tools
- Radios*
- Remote controls*
- Stereo components*
- Telephones and telephone equipment*
- Televisions and related components, including VCRs, DVD players, and outdoor antennas*
- Thermostats
- Toasters and toaster ovens
- Water heaters and water softeners
* Note that items marked with an asterisk (*) may contain circuit boards with gold that can be recycled and reclaimed by a gold refiner
How to Unlock the Recycling Dollars that You’ve Been Missing
Print out the list above and post it in your facility so that all the members of your yard team can set aside items that could contain valuable precious metals. Then call Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners at 800-426-2344 to tell us what you have. Remember, you will have to extract circuit boards and some other components that contain precious metals before you send them to us to be tested and appraised. But is it worth the trouble? Yes! The dollars you claim by smart recycling of precious metals can provide a real income stream for your town and demonstrate your skills as a cutting-edge, savvy recycler.