Junk Buying Tips

• Compared to glass or metallic materials, plastic poses unique challenges - because of the massive number of types of plastic, they each carry a resin identification code, and must be sorted before they can be recycled. This can be costly - while metals can be sorted using electromagnets, no such 'easy sorting' capability exists for plastics. In addition to this, while labels do not need to be removed from bottles for recycling, lids are often made from a different kind of non-recyclable plastic. Plastics recycling rates lag far behind those of other items, such as newspaper and aluminium; consumers are typically unsure of how to recycle plastics, and compared to paper and metals fewer recycling facilities exist.
  
  
• Transparent post-consumer Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) attracts higher sales prices compared to the blue and green fractions.
  
  
• The mixed colour fraction is the least valuable.
  
  
• Pay as you throw (PAYT) is a usage pricing model for disposing of municipal solid waste. PAYT is sometimes referred to as unit pricing or variable rate pricing. Users pay a variable rate based on how much waste they present for collection by the local authority or municipality. Where this system is implemented, recyclable waste is usually collected free of charge.
  
  
• Communities which have implemented PAYT systems have seen substantial decreases in the quantity of waste that they generate and substantial increases in the amount of recycling that occurs. This therefore produces better results, as waste minimisation is higher on the waste hierarchy. This benefits the natural environment by reducing energy usage for collection and treatment. It reduces pollution from disposal methods such landfills and incinerators. It also increases the supply of recycled materials that can be used instead of raw materials.
  
  
• Variable rate pricing increases the incentive to generate less waste. In communities where the flat fee is insufficient to cover the costs of solid waste disposal, tax subsidies are frequently used. This creates two levels of subsidy which hide the true cost of waste disposal. The first subsidy is paid by the community through taxes; the second is paid by those who generate less waste to cover the costs of those who generate more.
  
  
• PAYT has been implemented by communities ranging from large cities to small towns. In communities with kerbside collection, PAYT is frequently implemented by charging a fee for a particular waste container, which is picked up weekly. In communities with a centralised spot for waste collection, such as a civic amenity site or transfer station), PAYT is frequently implemented by requiring waste to be placed in particular binbags which are sold at a higher than normal fee, with the excess price used to finance the disposal costs. In some communities any trash bag can be used but a waste sticker must be affixed to each bag or container.
  
  
• Equipment containing parts of various metals can often be purchased at a price below that of either of the metals, due to saving the scrapyard the labor of separating the metals before shipping them to be recycled. As an example, a scrapyard in Arcata, California sells automobile engines for $0.25 per pound, while aluminum, of which the engine is mostly made, sells for $1.25 per pound.
  
  
• Currently, the costs associated with removing asbestos, along with the potentially expensive insurance and health risks, have meant that ship-breaking in much of the western world is no longer economically viable. Removing the metal for scrap can potentially cost more than the scrap value of the metal itself.
  
  
• many scrap yards that deal in large quantities of scrap usually do not, often selling entire units such as engines or machinery by weight with no regard to their functional status.
  
  
• Many scrapyards also sell bulk metals (stainless steel, etc) by weight, often at prices substantially below the retail purchasing costs of similar pieces.
  
  
• In contrast to a wreckers, scrapyards typically sell everything by weight, rather than by item. To the scrapyard, the primary value of the scrap is what the smelter will give them for it, rather than the value of whatever shape the metal may be in. An auto wrecker, on the other hand, would price the exact same scrap based on what the item does, regardless of what it weighs. Typically, if a wrecker can not sell something above the value of the metal in it, they would then take it to the scrapyard and sell it by weight.
  
  
• Recycling of newsprint saves about 1 tonne of wood while recycling 1 tonne (1.1 ton) of printing or copier paper saves slightly more than 2 tonnes of wood.
  
  
• Costs of litter. Litter may reduce property value by up to 15 percent.
  
  

The information provided by Wikipedia.org