Did You Know That Recycling Your Old Restaurant Equipment Can Make You Money?
Posted on: 15 October 2018
If you own a restaurant, you've got a great opportunity to recycle your scrap metal — restaurants contain a large number of metal items in both the kitchen and the dining area. Recycling your old restaurant equipment instead of throwing out is great for the environment and can even help your restaurant make some extra money. Scrap metal recycling companies will buy items from you that can be melted down for the metal they contain, which they then sell to manufacturers to be used in new products. To help you spot recycling opportunities, here are some items in your restaurant that can be sold to a scrap metal recycling operation for cash.
Pots and Pans
Pots and pans that have burnt-on food that's impossible to remove or baking sheets that are severely warped are impossible to use in your kitchen. The large five-gallon stock pots common in restaurant kitchens are particularly good to recycle, as they contain quite a bit of metal.
Restaurant-quality pots and pans are typically made of stainless steel, which is a great thing when you're recycling them for their scrap metal. Stainless steel sells for a much higher rate than carbon steel so that scrap metal recycling companies will pay you a higher price for your stainless steel goods. As a restaurant owner, this makes recycling your old stainless steel equipment a potentially lucrative deal.
Kitchen Appliances
Old refrigerators, ovens, mixers, deep fryers, ice machines, and other restaurant appliances all contain a large amount of stainless steel, making them good targets for scrap metal recycling. If you're installing a dishwasher and downsizing your dish pit, take it to be recycled. Dish pits, along with their faucets, are often made of a large amount of stainless steel. You should also feel free to take broken appliances to the scrap yard after you replace them. Scrap recycling services don't care if the appliance functions or not.
One thing to note about recycling used kitchen appliances for their scrap metal is that recycling companies will either refuse or pay much less for items that are covered in grease. Recycled scrap eventually heads to the smelter to be melted down, and grease on the items can cause the smelter to burn too hot and malfunction. If you're recycling an old deep fryer or oven that has some significant grease buildup, it's a good idea to take some time scrubbing it down with a strong detergent in order to remove all of the grease.
Aluminum Chairs and Tables
While the kitchen contains most of your items that are excellent recycling opportunities, you shouldn't neglect the front of the house. Your dining chairs and tables may contain significant amounts of aluminum, which can be recycled. Since aluminum is durable and doesn't corrode, it usually stays in good condition. As a result, there's a healthy market for scrap aluminum, and scrap buyers often pay good prices for it.
As you can see, there are many items in your restaurant that are good candidates for scrap recycling. Your restaurant will earn money when you take your old pots and pans, chairs and tables, or kitchen appliances to a scrap metal recycling company instead of throwing them out, where you may actually need to pay waste disposal or hauling fees instead.
Keep recycling in mind before you send metal off to the landfill. If your restaurant has a large number of items that can be recycled, it's a good idea to shop around at several different scrap metal buyers — if you're selling scrap metal in bulk and know exactly what you're selling, you're sometimes able to negotiate a better price for the sale.
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