Ballasts are all over the place…you might not “see,” them…but they help you see wherever you are. Inside of all types of lights there are different types of ballasts. From copper to electronic ballasts they are all over the place and need to be looked for when you are scrapping. There are a few different types of ballasts and the best way to find out if your local scrap yard buys them is by stopping by and asking them.
The worst type of ballast that you can have is a PCB ballast. These are very harmful to the environment and many scrap yards will not want to buy or even take these in as as scrap because they are very difficult to recycle correctly. There are companies out there that specialize in hazardous ballast recycling…but most of the time they will not pay for the material, but make you pay to get rid of them.
One thing that we do not recommend doing is throwing ballasts in with your steel piles. If you are not sure what type that you have you can take a picture and post it to our Forum where other scrappers will be able to help you out or even email the iScrap App team at info@iscrapapp.com so you can get a better idea on what is going on.
When you take apart commercial lights you will have to get in touch with your towns to find out the right days to recycle your bulbs as well as where to get rid of the plastic. But most of the rest of the light, from the wire to the steel casings (sometimes aluminum casings) can be recycled and you can make a good penny on!
