Around this time of year many of our customers shutdown for one or two weeks in July. We ship out quite a few containers to use for cleaning up jewelry benches and manufacturing facilities; the items sent in to be refined are varied.
| Filters | Polishing buffs | Shop floor sweeps |
| Protective equipment | Vacuum bags | Sink sludge |
| Carpets | Wipes | Mop water |
Some items are not straightforward. Take flooring for example.
Some types of flooring cannot be refined. For instance vinyl floor tiles are a petroleum based item which makes them more flammable. The temperature at which this material burns is so hot, precious metals are burned up with it and disposal of this type of material can be toxic if burned. Another concern is if you contaminate your lot with a large quantity of non precious metal bearing materials you may not get the return you are looking for.
If you feel you have precious metals in your vinyl tile, we suggest wiping the tile down thoroughly and placing the used wipes in a container and send those in for refining. For rubber backed carpet, the rubber hinders the precious metals recovery process, so we suggest vacuuming well and sending the entire vacuum bag(s) into us for refining. If the carpet is a standard type, non-rubber back, just cut up your high traffic areas such as under your jeweler’s benches and machinery and send it in. Again, vacuum the other areas up and send in the bags.
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