Scrap habits

[Joe Piro]

I did a Garage Journal search and could not find anywhere else appropriate to ask this question so please excuse me or point me to the right Garage Journal place.

What do you do with short pieces of scrap PVC pipe??? It seems like there is almost always a plumbing project going on. I sweat a lot of 1/2" and 3/4" copper and know what to do with old copper and drops from cutting new pipe. But there is always PVC left over, from 2' or 2 1/2" waste and vents and drains and 1/2" and 3/4" PVC and CPVC.
Big Contractors must have to deal with barrels full of this stuff.
I did an online search about recycling PVC and could not find any good answers.
Any opinions, or better yet, good ideas?

 

[65ranchero]

What do you do with short pieces of scrap PVC pipe???

There are recycling places but... not every where.

How to Properly Dispose of PVC

In 2018, of the 25.7 million tons of plastic created in the USA, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) was the 3rd most produced plastic, behind polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) (EPA). PVC is used in a variety of different applications from long rigid pipes and fittings...

www.pvcfittingsonline.com

 

[andyvh1959]

Lots of good ideas, and good to know that I too am a scrapaholic; "Uh, Hi, my name is Andy, and,.....I'm,....a scrapaholic. Got it from my dad who had it real bad. " Group of garage guys reply, "Hi Andy welcome to scrapaholics, we understand. You're not a bad garage guy, just can't throw chit away."

Now, on to metal scrapaholics. I fab some stuff from metal, weld stuff together, and will be doing a lot more metal fab in the next few years when I build my 56 Dodge pickup daily driver.

 

[wmihl]

Back in the days of my father swinging the hammer framing houses, he took the scraps of 2x12s and made blocks 16" tall to set his old 1934 Ford and an enclosed trailer on over the winter months instead of using jack stands, along with placing some pieces of the **** carpet from building his house back in 1972.

 

[Rst277]

I did a Garage Journal search and could not find anywhere else appropriate to ask this question so please excuse me or point me to the right Garage Journal place.

What do you do with short pieces of scrap PVC pipe??? It seems like there is almost always a plumbing project going on. I sweat a lot of 1/2" and 3/4" copper and know what to do with old copper and drops from cutting new pipe. But there is always PVC left over, from 2' or 2 1/2" waste and vents and drains and 1/2" and 3/4" PVC and CPVC.
Big Contractors must have to deal with barrels full of this stuff.
I did an online search about recycling PVC and could not find any good answers.
Any opinions, or better yet, good ideas?

Big contractors don't deal with cutoffs at all. It all goes in the garbage. It costs too much to sort, organize, haul it back to the shop, store it and then bring a bunch of pieces to the next job. That is one of the reasons ready to move homes are so much cheaper, less waste. They build 10 houses in a row, the plumber uses up the cut offs as they are right there for example.