So, you've decided to start a scrap metal recycling business, or a metal scrapping business as some would call it. Stainless steel is one particular metal that is good to collect because it can garner you good prices, but also because you can generally find it in large quantities. Here are some of the best places that you can get your hands on stainless steel scrap.
1. Restaurants
More often than not, the equipment setups that are used by restaurants are stainless steel. It doesn't matter whether it is the countertop, refrigerator, oven, or some other type of equipment or appliance, stainless steel is very popular in restaurants. This is primarily due to the fact that stainless steel is easy to use and easy to clean; it is a good surface to prevent bacteria from growing. When stainless steel is pulled from the kitchen of a restaurant, you can probably get a few hundred, or possibly even a few thousand, pounds of scrap.
2. Bakeries
Bakeries also rely on stainless steel equipment to keep the workspace clean and free from bacteria. Bakeries will have very similar appliances in the kitchen, but you can also find that bakeries will have stainless steel racks and shelving to hold baked goods for cooling prior to packaging them.
Just keep in mind that some bakeries will use aluminum shelving and racks as opposed to stainless steel—and these can look very similar to one another—so make sure that you ensure that they are stainless steel before you take them. If you take a close look, you should be able to tell the difference. Stainless steel is shinier and more silver in color, while aluminum is dull in texture and more grey in color.
3. Machine Shops
There are many times that machine shops will use stainless steel to cut pieces for machines or equipment. There will be bits and pieces leftover or shavings from their cuttings that can be taken off for scrap metal recycling. Keep in mind, though, that these pieces could have oil or some other type of residue on them, which means that you could get a lower price for the stainless steel at the scrap yard. To combat this, though, you could clean the stainless steel.
Before you take your stainless steel scrap metal off, call local scrap yard to compare prices to ensure that you get the best deal for your scrap metal.
