Take Your Metal to a Scrap Yard

I miss Alameda Recycling in Wilmington, where for nearly three decades I took whatever scrap metal or e-waste I wanted to recycle. The scrap yard was distinguished by its bright yellow fence, on Alameda Street, within a bottle’s throw of the Pacific Coast Highway overpass. The facility advertised it took “anything with a plug.” Besides recycling aluminum cans and many kinds of metal (and glass and plastic), they took things like my broken-down vacuum cleaner the Goodwill refused, a keyboard I spilled chocolate milk on, and the greasy auto parts and battered kitchenware from my late father’s place. Then they closed down, coincidentally, just ahead of the COVID pandemic.

Community recycling programs usually provide ways to recycle aluminum cans, plastic/glass bottles, and paper, but recycling scrap metal and e-waste is usually up to the initiative of individual homeowners. There’s an old bit of housekeeping wisdom, “Never throw away anything made of metal.” Partly that’s because old hardware can come in handy, but partly because throwing away any metal can be harmful to the environment.

So I was glad to discover SA Recycling, a full service ferrous and non-ferrous metal recycler and processor, which is also on Alameda Street, but in Carson, a bottle’s throw from the I-405 overpass. It’s one of more than 80 such facilities scattered across several cities and states. They primarily serve trucking and industry, but they also welcome the general public. I’ve used both the Carson location and a larger one in Anaheim, and the Carson one’s probably preferable for the average household. Be warned, however, if you’re nervous around big trucks, SA Recycling isn’t for you.

In Carson things were fairly simple. I drove my car load of scrap onto the truck scale, showed my driver’s license and got a receipt, dumped the scrap on a scrap heap, got my car weighed on another truck scale, then went to the cashier’s window and got paid in cash.

Anaheim was more complicated. I drove up on the truck scale, but my driver’s license got raised on a string and it and the receipt came back down. Then I had to go to a second scale, unload, give a thumbprint, a guy punched data into the computer and gave me a printout, and then I couldn’t get paid on the spot. They work by check, and you can either come back and pick yours up after several days, or have it mailed to you. I had mine mailed.

Between the two runs, I disposed of 115 pounds of scrap metal and got roughly $17 richer. I cleared out old broken-down garage door springs and hinges, old broken-down aluminum window screens, rods, pipes, old rusty blades and files, rusty gardening tools, coils of wire, auto parts, plumbing parts, some of what looked like an old garbage disposal, and several outdated refrigerator water filters. I may not be done yet.

Full disclosure: SA Recycling advertises with Random Lengths News.

Details:  310-835-7291, sarecycling.com
Location:  22606 S. Alameda Street, Carson