Can You Make Money Recycling Leftovers?

Platinum ScrapRecycle Precious MetalsRecycling and Refining
Written By Barry Lenson

If you look in your fridge at this time of year, chances are you will find some leftovers. Maybe there is a little wad of stuffing in a plastic storage box that’s leftover from Thanksgiving, or a few slices of a roast from a big meal you served at Chanukah or Christmas. Well, it’s time to toss them.

But what about leftovers from the precious metal scrap you have collected and recycled over the last year? Don’t toss them! If you have been collecting and investing in precious metals, you just might have enough leftover materials to profit from.

Here’s a story . . .

An investor we know collected a few bins full of thermocouple wires that he had bought from an old factory that had closed. He pulled out the thermocouple wires, but then he noticed that some material had accumulated on the bottom of those bins. It looked like dust, but it had bright shiny flecks in it too. What did that leftover powder contain? He decided to test it and learned that it contained a small quantity of silver and copper that were worth about five dollars. Not a fortune, you say? Well, you are right. But this story illustrates the point that small amounts of powder and other leftovers from your precious metal collecting should not be tossed away! If you collect all that worthless-looking material and send it to us to be tested and refined, your efforts could repay you with more money than you expect.

Here Are Some Leftovers to Be on the Lookout For

  • Snipped ends of welding and brazing rods, which usually contain silver that is worth recycling.

  • Contact points and bits of hardware that were attached to thermocouples and other connecting wires.

  • Dust and powders that you can collect from factory floors.

  • Bench sweepings that you collect from grinders, milling machines, drill presses, and other machine-shop machines.

  • Sand that accumulates in floor drains in factories.

  • Dust that has built up under floorboards in factories.

  • Residues that have built up in plating tanks and in the drainpipes they contain.

  • Small bits of “spent” platinum sponges and filters.

  • Polishing wheels from jewelry factories, which have usually “picked up” some of the silver and other metals they finished.

If It Could Contain Precious Silver, Gold, or other Metals, Why Toss It?

Call Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners instead and let us test your leftovers and tell you what they are worth. Our consultants are standing by at 800-426-2344. You will enjoy speaking with them, and the conversation could prove to be quite profitable.

Barry Lenson
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