
You have probably been to a hospital before and seen the tables, chairs, and weird machines they use, but have you ever considered what could be scrapped in the medical world?!
Most Common Metal: Stainless Steel
Let’s start with something easy: stainless steel. Stainless steel is the most common metal in the medical field, and it is used for all types of materials, tools, equipment, tables, and more. Stainless steel is used for multiple reasons, but the main ones are its corrosion resistance and ease of sanitizing and cleaning after procedures.
Stainless steel is so strong due to its Nickel content and iron composition that it is a great metal in the medical field. Two types of stainless steel are used: 304 stainless steel and 316 stainless steel. These two metals have a high nickel content, which means they don’t rust or corrode and can withstand medical procedures daily. Check with your scrap yard and ask how they analyze your stainless steel for various grades.
Suggested Reading: Where To Find Scrap Stainless Steel
What’s Inside: Titanium & 316L Stainless Steel
Let’s talk about the screws that they use in the field for all of the bones that they put together, plates that get installed, and whatever else the doctors use to piece people back together. The metal bolts, screws, plates, pins, and whatever else is used in the medical world are typically one of these metals: Titanium or 316L Stainless Steel. These will generally not react inside the body and will not cause any reaction once they are put in the bones to hold them together.
These two metals are also used in the plates and full metal body part replacements that you could get in surgery. Whether it is a new rod in a spine or anything else, it is excellent to know what they use…and if you can find a scrap place that takes used medical screws, you will be in luck!
Suggest Reading: Scrapping Nails & Screws
Machines & Equipment: Copper & E-Scrap

While they may seem like they have a lot of plastic attached, many medical machines and equipment have a good deal of copper wire, circuit breakers, computer components, and alloy metals inside. You can be in luck if you can work with local offices to get some machines like computers, measurement equipment, and X-ray machines. Take a look at the piece of equipment you have and realistically see what is available for scrap. You can cut off any copper wires and unscrew some covers to see the e-scrap materials inside.
X-Ray Films: Lead Film
The films from X-rays are worth money in scrap. The film is usually made of Lead or Silver-based material; therefore, if you find a suitable scrap yard that accepts the x-ray film, you can bring them in for scrap. Now, if you have one x-ray film from when your kid fell and broke his arm, that won’t be quite enough to sell. However, if you are working with a medical office cleaning up, moving, or transferring their files to digital, they may have many X-ray films that can be recycled. You can ask local yards in your area if they accept those materials.
What To Expect With Medical Field Scrap Metal
The surgical equipment is almost exclusively made from stainless steel. For the same reasons we went into earlier, stainless will have the strength, sustainability, and overall durability to last in the medical field, but everything will get scrapped. Many medical offices will take their equipment and recycle it each year so they can use their budgets to get newer and more upgraded/efficient tools in…and that is where you come in. The scrap generated from the medical field will be constant, maybe not every month, but it will often come because of the overall size of the medical field.
You have to know what to look out for, and once you have a good idea, you will be able to capitalize and scrap things often. Sometimes, you can even resell some equipment to a medical refurbisher online or in person if you can find a local outlet.