Helping Santa Fe rethink their waste
Recycle
Metal
Many of these common household or office items can be placed in your recycling bin or taken to a transfer station. Recycling used materials into new products reduces: the consumption of raw materials, energy usage, air pollution from incineration, and water pollution from landfilling.

batteries CURBSIDE RECYCLING
What can and cannot go in your curbside bin and how should it be separated?
read more >
batteries RECYCLE AT WORK
Find out how you can save $$ by recycling! Print recycling posters for your business or school.
read more >

PHONE BOOK RECYCLING
You can recycle your phone books at any of the following drop off bin locations:
BuRRT >
County Transfer Stations >
City of Santa Fe Environmental Services Division >
BUCKMAN ROAD RECYCLING & TRANSFER STATION HOURS: 8:00am - 4:45pm Mon - Sun
CAJA DEL RIO LANDFILL
HOURS: 7:00am - 5:00pm Mon - Sat
Metals are elements that naturally occur in ore (rocks).  These ores are extracted through mining and then refined to extract the valuable elements.  It takes an incredible amount of energy and resources to extract these elements.
So when we recycle metal, we not only preserve natural resources, but we save energy too!  For example, recycling aluminum involves melting the scrap, a process that requires only 5% of the energy used to produce virgin aluminum from ore. According to research conducted by the US Environmental Protection Agency, recycling scrap metals can be quite beneficial to the environment. Using recycled scrap metal in place of virgin iron ore can yield:
  • 75% savings in energy
  • 90% savings in raw materials used
  • 86% reduction in air pollution
  • 40% reduction in water use
  • 76% reduction in water pollution
  • 97% reduction in mining wastes
Every ton of new steel made from scrap steel saves:
  • 2,500 lbs of iron ore
  • 1,400 lbs of coal
  • 115 lbs of limestone

What metals can I recycle in Santa Fe?

Almost all metals are recyclable; it just depends on where you recycle it.  Food or beverage metals are usually generated at home or work and consist of soda cans, canned food containers, and aluminum foil.  Scrap metals are items like cooking pans, water heaters, or an old metal shed.  For more information on bulky scrap metals, please see the Large Appliances section.  Bulky metals are banned from our landfill. Remember, please give a quick rinse to metals that contained food so it does not contaminate other recyclables.
Food or beverage metals: Search
  • aluminum cans
  • tin cans
  • aluminum foil
Scrap Metals: Search
  • Aluminum
  • Brass and Bronze
  • Cast Iron
  • Copper
  • Steel
  • Tin
Where can I recycle metal? Search
BuRRT – all metals

Capital Scrap Metals Inc. – all metals
1162 Cooks Lane, Santa Fe
(505) 471-0740

City Curbside Recycling - food or beverage metals ONLY

County Transfer Stations – all metals

Mr. G’s Recycling – all metals
7625 Baca Ln, Santa Fe
(505) 474-6969

Which metals are not recyclable?

Any object containing Mercury or Lead must be disposed of differently and cannot go in a recycling bin.  Mercury is most commonly found in a thermometer or Compact Fluorescent Light bulb (CFL).  For more information, visit the Florescent Lights & Mercury section. Lead can be found in Cathode Ray Tubes (CRT’s) like old televisions and computer monitors.  For information on disposal, visit the TVs & Computer Monitor section.