Staples & the Enviornment?

Question

I'm doing a project on recyclable materials, and I need to know the chemical makeup and if it can be recycled or not. Thanks!

P.S. List sources please, too; I need a bibliography!

Answer 1

Staples used in medical procedures are stainless steel.

LEMAIRE staples, made of inox 316L (stainless steel)

http://www.medcompare.com/details/35212/...

Regular staples are made of stainless wire.  See the link for a full description.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staple_(fas...

Answer 2

Staples are made of steel which is an alloy of iron. Iron is a metallic element which is abundant in the Earths crust.  Iron is brittle (example, cast iron)  so it won't bend without breaking.  An alloy is a mixture of elements that make a material more suitable for a use than it was in it's natural state. Steel is one of the most common metals used in things we use every day. Car bodies and skyscraper skeletons are made of steel.  So are soup cans. Staples are so minute that recycling them would be insignificant.  Soup cans are large enough to be recycled economically. I'm saying that there is enough steel in soup cans to make it worth doing.

There are several other metals that are valuable enough to be recycled and become available as scrap metal.  One is aluminum, which is found in many things from pop cans to car engine blocks and wheel rims and lawn furniture.  Another is copper, which is used for electric wiring and sometimes copper water and gas pipe mostly.  Brass is used for many things including water and gas valves as well as decorative items.  It is an alloy of copper and tin mostly.  Lead is not used as much as it used to be because it was discovered to be poisonous if absorbed.  Lead oxide was once used in paint but children would get lead poisoning if they ate old paint chips. Now metallic lead can be found in lead acid car batteries and car wheel balancing weights.  All these metals have value and can be sold to recycling or scrap metal yards for cash.

Iron and steel are attracted to a magnet and this is a great way to test the metal you have to see what it is.  High grade stainless steel is not attracted to a magnet and it will not rust.  It is used in hospitals and food producing facilities and some other places where acid is present.  It is a very stable metal alloy.  It is also very strong but will bend without breaking.  No other metal in general use will be attracted to a magnet.  I have read that Nickel and Cobalt are magnetically reactive, but I've never had any to try it on.  Usually any metal that will not stick to a magnet is worth more money than Iron or Steel.

Staples need to be removed from magazines or cardboard boxes or they will contaminate the paper pulp when the recycled paper is ground up.  They will not dissolve and will cause a flaw in the new paper.

Answer 3

Well, this is really only relevant for those items that Staples packages themselves.

I believe that much/most items are packaged by their original manufacturers.

But, slightly related, you could look at the recycled and biogdegradable (cornstarch) packing peanuts that Staples sells.

http://www.staples.com/webapp/wcs/stores...