How Do You Properly Dispose of Magnets?

In our last blog post, we talked about how you can use magnets to help with your spring-cleaning. But what if during your spring cleaning, you found some old magnets or electronics containing magnets you want to get rid of. Can you throw them in the trash? Are they recyclable? How do you properly dispose of your old or unwanted magnets?

Disposing of Flexible Sheet & Kitchen Magnets

Promotional, flexible sheet magnets are fairly common. They come in many forms including magnetic business cards, save the dates, promotional calendars and more. They populate refrigerators and filing cabinet doors, but what do you do with them when you’re done with them?

These types of magnets aren’t recyclable, so if they are worn out and broken or you simply have too many for your fridge, it’s okay to toss them in the trash.

Disposing of Rare Earth Magnets

Rare earth magnets are common in most electronics these days. They are in cell phones, computers, headphones and speakers, kids toys and more. The Federal Government mandates that these magnets be thermally demagnetized before disposing of them. To do this, you need to heat them to their Curie point, which for neodymium magnets begins at about 176 ° F. It is certainly not recommended that you try this at home, so what should you do with them?

Strong Neodymium magnets should not be thrown in the trash or the recycling bin. The easiest way to properly dispose of these rare earth magnets is to find a company that does it. Many cities or counties have recycling centers specifically designed to dispose of these types of materials. You can often drop them off at local electronics and cell phone stores. Thrift shops may collect used appliances to refurbish, or charities often collect old cell phones to raise funds by passing them on to mobile phone recycling companies. Check with your local waste disposal for what to do in your community.

Reusing Magnets

Magnets are not recyclable or biodegradable. The best option to keep them out of landfills is to reuse them. There are a lot of home organization and DIY projects that can be done with magnets. Here are few ideas for reusing magnets in your home.

Ways to reuse  magnets include:

• Re-cover promotional magnets with different images to make your own magnetic pictures
• Cut flexible sheet magnets up to make magnetic puzzles or DIY magnetic alphabet
• Attach small objects to small disc magnets to create custom fridge magnets
• Donate them to schools or daycare centers who might use them for projects in their classroom
• Check with local scrap yards to see if they accept or maybe even pay for old magnets

US Magnetix For all Your Magnetic Needs

At US Magnetix, we’re here to serve you and all your magnetic needs no matter what they may be. We provide custom promotional magnets, high quality manufacturing and industrial magnets as well as full-service imaging. Shop our online magnet store, give us a call at 763-540-9497 or send us a message.