Why it's important to recycle your carbide tooling

Knowing that the carbide can be recycled responsibly and reused by industry can be an incentive for many shops. Phuchit/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Did you know that you can get money for recycling your used carbide tooling? Tungsten Ball

Rather than just piling it up and scraping it, many cutting tool manufacturers have developed recycling programs to make it easier for machine shops to recycle their carbide.

“There is a general industry rule of thumb that, on average, carbide has a recycle rate of 35 per cent and even higher for metal cutting tools,” said Mitch Lenhard, director, category management at Kennametal, Pittsburgh. “When it comes to North American metal cutting tools, that recycle rate jumps to 65 to 80 per cent.”

Carbide and the cutting tools made using carbide are valuable for several reasons. First, they contain high proportions of the sought-after metals cobalt (Co) and tungsten (W). Depending on its hardness, carbide can have a tungsten content of 65 to 90 per cent and a cobalt content of up to 30 per cent.

Tungsten is a non-renewable material, which means there will no longer be any tungsten left once the reserves are depleted. While many believe that tungsten reserves will last many generations, it is something to consider.

It’s important to note that the primary method of extracting cobalt and tungsten from ore can be very costly and energy-intensive, which means that the way it is mined can be problematic from a labour and environmental standard.

“More and more, younger generations are talking about recycling,” said Troy Wilt, managing director at CERATIZIT USA, Schaumburg, Ill. “But you certainly won't find anyone who doesn’t want to leave this planet better than they found it, especially for our kids and grandkids.”

The environmental impacts, especially related to the carbon footprint of mining tungsten and the energy consumption associated with carbide production, are the key factors driving recycling.

“When you efficiently conserve natural resources and energy, everyone benefits, today and tomorrow,” said Lenhard.

On the economic side of things, a cutting tool has a relatively short tool life, especially as it relates to its carbide content.

The push to recycle carbide offers economic and environmental benefits. It’s all about circularity, where cutting tool manufacturers can rework cobalt and tungsten to give both a longer life. cesarhgv/iStock/Getty Images Plus

“If you are running the tool correctly and efficiently, you are getting around 20 minutes of tool life,” said Wilt. “This is very short when you think about all that goes into extracting and developing the material and then producing a cutting tool.”

Recycling offers economic benefits to both the user and the cutting tool manufacturer. The user benefits from the buyback money that can be put towards the bottom line, while the cutting tool manufacturers benefit from using recycled material rather than purchasing virgin material at a much higher cost. The cutting tool manufacturer can restore the material and resell it. This limits the demand for mining new material.

“It’s all about circularity,” said Wilt. “We can take that piece of cobalt and tungsten and rework it to last as long as possible. To become more competitive in the market, machine shops can make money recycling and, at the same time, become better global citizens. It’s the way of the future.”

More and more, machine shops are evaluating ways to save money, and recycling is one way to do that with little effort. However, many do not know where to start.

Many manufacturers will rely on scrapyards or recycling firms to offload scrap material. However, scrapyards and recycling firms don’t always give manufacturers the knowledge that the material will be recycled appropriately.

“With this option, shops don’t necessarily know what will happen to their material,” said Wilt. “What we are trying to do is give them an accountability factor on their end and ours by sharing exactly what's happening to the material that they’ve sold to us—we are recycling it back into carbide cutting tools. If they sell it to a scrap dealer, they will have no idea what happens to the material.”

Knowing that the carbide is being recycled responsibly with the intent that it be reused in industry can be an incentive for many shops. On the economic side, researching the return rates can help give shops a better sense of how much money they will be saving. Some cutting tool manufacturers can offer both monetary returns or credits on future purchases.

Once a manufacturer has evaluated at all of its options, it next needs to establish a plan to make the shop recycling friendly.

“This is as simple as finding a designated spot for the scrap tools,” said Lenhard. “Take the time to set up the bucket, box, or whatever will collect the material. Formally discuss the program with employees and share all the details about what they need to know. Communication and setting expectations are key to success.”

Cutting tool manufacturers that recycle materials often have designated bins and boxes that they can send to machine shops. Lenhard noted that some of Kennametal’s customers even prefer to ship their scrap carbide in orange Home Depot buckets. The same is true for CERATIZIT.

Tungsten powder is ready to be pressed into another insert or rod after the recycling process has brought it back to its original composition. CERATIZIT

“When a shop works with us, we can help make the process easy,” said Wilt. “We can supply the bins and educate them on what’s acceptable in terms of material. We also suggest sorting between flat and round products, which means having two bins from the onset.”

Depending on the program design, once the bin is filled, the machine shop can call the cutting tool manufacturer or program organizer to kick off the return process. At this point, the provider of recycling services needs to know the type and quantity of material that they are receiving and will from there provide an estimate of the monetary return.

The shop can then ship the bins to the cutting tool manufacturer or program organizer or call the local scrapyard for material pickup.

“Carbide is heavy, so we recommend that shops in rural areas ship it more frequently,” said Wilt.

Some programs will offer a cash-back incentive, while others will opt for a credit for future purchases. Knowing the market value and daily rate of the material they are recycling will give shops a better understanding of what they can expect as a return.

Recycling carbide tooling has many benefits beyond reaching a certain price per pound metric.

More companies are looking to reduce shop waste in efficient ways, and having the involvement of their employees is important in the execution of a successful recycling program.

Some cutting tools can be resharpened or reground before they need to be scrapped. Most shops make that determination based on the parts they are producing.

For example, Wilt explained that an aerospace manufacturer making a $250,000 part won’t resharpen the tool in an effort to avoid the risk of an error. On the other hand, some shops may choose to recondition the mills and drills if they are using a high volume of tools.

“Most shops who are reconditioning carbide tools have matrices set up that once the tool gets to a certain length or diameter, it needs to be recycled,” said Wilt. “For those that don’t recondition the tools, recycling them immediately is a good practice.”

Once the carbide is returned to the cutting tool manufacturer, it is inspected and sorted. It is then processed using various methods. For example, depending on the carbide, it can either require crushing, chemicals, or heat to break down the material.

“It’s important to note that some carbide is easier to recycle than others, and that is why rates may vary,” said Lenhard. “We find a way to recycle the carbide so we can return it to you as a new, high-quality product.”

Regardless of the process, cutting tool manufacturers work in responsible ways to recycle the material and turn it into high-quality cutting tools.

Senior Editor/Digital Editor Lindsay Luminoso can be reached at [email protected] .

Canadian Metalworking / Canadian Fabricating & Welding

Toronto, M1R 0A1 Canada

See More by Lindsay Luminoso

Lindsay Luminoso, sr. editor/digital editor, contributes to both Canadian Metalworking and Canadian Fabricating & Welding. She worked as an associate editor/web editor, at Canadian Metalworking from 2014-2016 and was most recently an associate editor at Design Engineering.

Luminoso has a bachelor of arts from Carleton University, a bachelor of education from Ottawa University, and a graduate certificate in book, magazine, and digital publishing from Centennial College.