There are many types of scrap ballasts and knowing which ones that you have before going to your scrap yards will always help when you go to sell your material.
Here are a few tips on what to look out for:
- PCBs– If Ballasts have PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) inside of them many scrap yards will not take them due to the risk of opening up and becoming toxic to an extent. Here is a link from the EPA to learn more about how to handle them correctly.
- Ballasts…or transformers? Some ballasts look like transformers, but they will have more steel on the inside and will be worth less month. Make sure that you ask your scrap yard before you mix them with your copper or aluminum transformers.
- Electronic Ballasts– These will have a low grade circuit board inside and also will have some resistors and capacitors that some scrap yards may not be interested in also.
- Normal Copper Ballasts– These are the best and most common ones when you are taking lights apart. They look very similar to the PCB and Electronic ballasts, so make sure that you look at what it says on the label of the actual ballast before you just start scrapping them.
Hope this helped shed a little “light,” (no pun intended) on ballasts. Scrap ya later!!!
