Your local scrap yard can be a very handy place to visit if you have large items you need to get rid of that your normal trash pick up will not accept. However, there are many scrap yard rules that you will want to know in order to adhere to the regulations.
First, you cannot bring tires to many different scrap yards. If you have tires you need to get rid of, call your scrap yard first in order to see if the accept tires. Some scrap yards will accept them, but you will get penalized for them. Others will not accept them at all. It is best to know what your scrap yard will take in terms of tires before you make the trip.
Second, you will also need to know what your scrap yard will take in terms of wood before you make a trip. If you take wood doors that are covered with sheet metal, the scrap yard might be interested in the metal, but not the actual door. You might be penalized for the wood aspect of the door. If you want to make money from scrap metal, take the sheet metal off the door and take only the metal portion to the scrap yard.
Third, fiberglass is also something that most scrap yards do not appreciate. There are many heavy items like desks that have fiberglass tops. The desks might be metal, but you will want to remove the top before taking it to the scrap yard.
Fourth, if you need some quick money and have larger furniture items you want to get rid of around your house, look at the bottoms of the couches and recliners and even the seats from your cars and you can get a bunch of metal that can be removed and returned to the scrap yard. These types of items are worth quite a bit of money and they are easy to remove. If you are tossing the furniture anyways, they are good sources of recycling money. The same can be said for drawer pulls and even doorknobs as they are often great sources of brass and brass is a good scrap metal in terms of monetary value.
Overall, you will want to check with your local scrap yard to ensure that you know the rules. If you plan to visit the yard often with a variety of items, you will want to make sure that you are not penalized or even banned from the scrap yard because of a mistake you have made. The biggest mistake you can make is simply not knowing the regulations of that particular scrap yard. Many of the items you might take are big and heavy so make sure you know what the scrap yard accepts before you make the trip.
