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File cabinets are one of the most durable bits of furniture you can have – it’s one of the exact reasons why I bought a few for my home office. That being said, whilst these storage items will last a long time, eventually, there comes a time when you will need to scrap them and so the question needs to be asked, can you scrap file cabinets?
File cabinets can be both scrapped and recycled. This is because they are made from common metals such as stainless steel, cast iron, and aluminum all of which are easily scraped. If you were to scrap your file cabinet you can earn up to $41 or £29.
So how much can you earn per file cabinet if you were to scrap them? And where are the best places to scrap your file cabinet? Keep reading to find out more!
Now if you’re just interested in my recommendations for the best file cabinets that have the best weight capacity limits you can check them out here (all links take you to Amazon):
- Small cabinet (2 drawers)
- Medium Cabinet (3 drawers)
- Large (4 drawers)
(Just a heads up a lot of people reading my blog are in the process of designing their own home office. If you want to save some of the painstaking time I did in designing my office, you can find my recommended products here)
Can you scrap file cabinets?
Whilst it might sound ludicrous to start off with, eventually, like all furniture, over time you will either need to scrap, recycle or give away your file cabinet.
Should your file cabinet become too damaged then scrappage is the only real option.
Scraping your file cabinet then is definitely possible due to to the following:
- They are made of easy to scrap materials – scrap yards often look for large amounts of common metals and metal alloys such as stainless steel, cast iron, and aluminum, all of which are commonly used to manufacture file cabinets
- They are large – As file cabinets are usually a heavier item of storage furniture, it means that you will get more for your money than you would scrap a cheap set of shelving for example
- The shape – due to most file cabinets being rectangular it makes crushing them or melting them down a lot easier than other common scrap items such as cars for example.
Where are the best places to scrap file cabinets?
So if you have decided to go down the route to get rid of your file cabinet what are some places you can safely dispose of them.
The main two places to get rid of cabinets then are as follows:
- Scrapyard
- Recycling centers
Scrap Yards
Scrap yards are easily the go-to place to get rid of large amounts of steel and metal such as file cabinets.
Whilst most scrap yards will be familiar with taking metal items from cars or scrapping machinery they will be more than happy to take large blocks of metals for file cabinets.
What is even better is that they will also pay you for your scrap metal giving you a nice tidy profit.
The only downside with scrap yards is that you will have to haul your cabinet down yourself which can prove to be a lot of work!
Recycling centers
Now if you don’t live near any scrap yards or just want to get rid of your file cabinet ASAP without earning a small profit, the best option you can do is take your file cabinet to a recycling plant.
I did this just last week at the Tyseley recycling plant in Birmingham.
Simply let your recycling center know the items that you want to recycle – such as metal when you arrive.
Then dump them in the recycling skips they have laid out.
Just be aware that in order to move your file cabinet you might need more than one person as lifting it up and over giant skips can prove a little challenging.
Are file cabinets recyclable?
All file cabinets made of stainless steel, aluminum, cast iron, and 316 stainless steel are recyclable. This is because these are common metals sought after in consumer items, so the metals themselves have been designed to be used and reused again and again.
How much can I get for the metal if I scrap my file cabinet?
If you do decide to go down the route of scrapping your file cabinet. You can potentially earn a bit of money back.
If you scrap your file cabinet in the USA you can get $41.49. If you decide to scrap your file cabinet in the UK you will get £29.49. If you scrap your file cabinet in Canada you could earn $37.16. If you scrap in New Zealand you can earn $53.09, if you scrap in Australia you could earn $33.71
To help explain how I got to these prices, I compared the average price of materials mainly used in file cabinets (stainless steel, cast iron, and aluminum) and then multiplied by the average weight of the cabinet – 92.92 pounds (42.14KG) – You can find out more about the weight of a file cabinet by checking out my blog post here.
| Type of file cabinet steel | Price in KG UK (GBP) | Price per pound USA
(USD) |
Price in KG Canada
(CAD) |
Prince in KG NZ
(AUD) |
Price in KG AUS
(NZD) |
| Stainless steel | £0.70 | $0.45 | $0.40 | $0.80 | $1.26 |
| Heavy steel and cast iron | £0.21 | $0.07 | $0.09 | $0.22 | $0.10 |
| 316 stainless steel | £1.10 | $0.47 | $0.70 | $1.50 | $1.34 |
| Aluminum | £0.55 | $0.37 | $0.40 | $0.50 | $0.50 |
Now I gathered all the latest scrap pricing information from the following:
https://www.ingotmetals.co.nz/scrap-metal-prices/ – NZ
https://www.recyclingmonster.com/price – USA
https://www.southerncrossmetalrecyclers.com.au/scrap-metal-prices/ – Australia
https://www.greengatemetals.co.uk/scrapmetal/prices – UK
https://www.currentscrapmetalpricescanada.com/ – Canada
Let’s explore how much you can get for your file cabinet per country if you decide to scrap them.
How much can you earn if you scrap your file cabinet in the USA?
If you were to scrap your file cabinet in the USA you could earn $41.49. If it is made of cast iron $6.50, if it is made from 316 steel $43.43, if it is made of Aluminium $34.38.
How much can you earn if you scrap your file cabinet in the UK?
If you were to scrap your file cabinet in the UK you could earn £29.49. If it is made of cast iron £8.84, if it is made from 316 steel £46.35, if it is made of aluminum £23.17.
How much can you earn if you scrap your file cabinet in Canada?
If you were to scrap your file cabinet in Canada you could earn $37.16. If it is made of cast iron $8.36, if it is made from 316 steel $65.05, if it is made of aluminum $21.68.
What else should I know about file cabinets?
Finally, a lot of you reading this will have quite a few questions about file cabinets.
Luckily, I’ve pulled together some of my recent posts talking all about them which you can check out below:
- Can you stack file cabinets?
- How deep are file cabinets?
- Why are file cabinets so expensive?
- How to use a file cabinet without rails
- How much weight can a file cabinet hold?
A lot of people reading my blog want to know what products I recommend for a home office/remote working. You can find out my recommendations here and learn how I make money whilst working remotely on the side here.
The content on this site has been written by Fehed Nicass who has over a decade worth of experience in sales and has worked remotely for the past 2 years.