How Demolition Crews Can Partner With a Scrapyard

Much like the restaurant industry, the demolition industry operates on razor-thin margins, and unlike our friends in food service, demo crews can’t sell alcohol at a sky-high markup. Every penny counts in this business. Speaking of some tiny pieces of copper, making the most of metals on demolition sites can make you more than a few extra cents. Scrapyards are always on the lookout for metal to resell, and this isn’t just their livelihood—it benefits the planet, too, eliminating the need for extensive mining.

Scrapyards appreciate long-term and dependable business relationships. By exploring how demolition crews can partner with a scrapyard, you can begin to forge one of those relationships. It can quickly become a win-win situation.

On-the-Job Sorting

Metals your crews obtain from demolition sites fall into one of two groups—the ferrous, which contain iron, and the non-ferrous, which do not. Recyclers want common ferrous alloys like steel in high volume, and when it comes to the non-ferrous, they’ll take as much they can get. But don’t just expect them to show up and figure it out for themselves. Sorting your metals expedites the process and strengthens your partnership, and for that, you’ll want an industrial electromagnet on the job site to draw out the naturally magnetic iron and steel while leaving the non-ferrous metals behind for further sorting. Once you find the aluminum, copper, lead, and brass on your site, you’ll bring in a few extra dollars and have some very happy recycling partners.

Pick Up the LEED Points

By partnering with a scrapyard to recycle metals from demolition, new construction coming up in its place can come ever closer to attaining LEED certification. If you have a hand in the construction as well, this certification has value. Diverting waste from landfills helps score points toward receiving that LEED designation.

Deliver the Goods

Many yards have the necessary fleet to show up to the site, make an assessment, and haul away their newly acquired scrap metals. Doing business this way is fine for a one-off, but for your demolition crew to partner with a scrapyard in the long run, delivering your sorted metals to the yard will ensure better returns and a stronger partnership. When recyclers know that they can depend on your firm for timely, convenient, and regular business, word will travel fast about the quality and integrity of your operation. Those razor-thin margins might just start to widen a bit.