Shotgun cartridge recycling

[Wookie]

Basically, as the title says.

 

Say that I have a "shed-load" of empty 12b cartridges around the place and I want to ge them recycled, possibly getting some money back for the pure weight of plastic and metal in them. Has anyone got any ideas or contacts on how I can go about doing it?

 

Cheers,

 

Wookie

[MC]

Wookie,

 

If they were worth anything then shooting grounds wouldn't burn them. I suppose if you had enough you may get something for them, scrap steel is about £30 a tonne, I think.

[NorfolkBoy]

MC has it right plus the cost of seperating the plastic hull from the metal on a large scale would be prohibitive. But if you want to while away those long winter nights.......

[MC]

MC has it right plus the cost of seperating the plastic hull from the metal on a large scale would be prohibitive. But if you want to while away those long winter nights.......

 

 

What a hobby

 

THey probably weigh around 4-5 grams each so say 250 to the Kg. At that rate you only need 250,000 to get £30 back.

 

Sheesh I am going to be rich

[Gully]

I know that the metal in shotgun carts is brass plated steel, but I saw someone else post earlier that they chuck their unreloadable rifle cartridges in the bin. New brass is about £5000 per tonne at the moment, the chinese are sucking up all the copper for cables in their massive construction boom, as someone who buys a lot of metal, I've had to watch the price of copper go from $1600 per tonne to around $9000 per tonne in 2 years. An people wonder why inflation is back

I'd be hanging on to scrap brass at the moment- I get arounf £2/kg for it now but the price is heading back up again.

[mr smith]

I chuck it in the bin as my non reloadable carts would be only five or six hundred a year,and i ain't saving them up til i can get a decent amount to sell for scrap.Now it the council had abin for brass yeah no probs,i would put it in when i recycle the papers and glass.

It's not that i won't is more i can't really.

[hellier0437]

i know this has probably been asked before, but is there no was at akk to save money and reload cartridges, especially small ones such as .410 as they use less powder and lead and yet still cost as much as 12b

[kirky640]

general steel scrap is 100 pounds per tonne here at the mo

 

happy days

[Ferret Master]

I would like to recycle them. Just wouldn't know how other than reloading. I doubt it's a viable option but surely manufactuers could melt down the plastic and brass/steel heads and make cartridges again? But like was previously mentioned it would be difficult and not very efficient seperating the materials not to mention getting significant quantities back to the makers. Also you may find that different makers have different plastic mixtures etc. so they wouldn't want contaminantion from other brands in their cases.

 

FM

[humperdingle]

I don't think we shooters can be too high up on the recycling chain...

 

I recycle glass, plastic, cardboard and paper, and compost stuff for the garden.

 

But when you consider how much lead is shot over the countryside

 

(Quick calculation... 28gram X 4000 carts)

 

That's probably as much lead as I weigh in just one year. Then there's the plastic and metal empties... I don't think we can justifiably call ourselves 'Eco-warriors'

 

Aah, but what the hell, I do my bit! And anyway, we PAY the grounds to shoot there, so surely it's up to them as pillars of the community to ensure the lead we shoot is not going to make it's way back into the water tables and the empties are dealt with sensitively?

 

There you go... we're all in the clear, fellas.