(a) I am encouraged to bring my wire hangers back to the dry cleaner. Is there really an economic/environmental benefit therefrom, and if so, has anyone quantified it?
(b) As commodity prices rise: could I sell my hangers on the open market for big bucks? What is the metal they use? I know that most curbside recycling programs shun hangers (I guess they jam the shredders). But are my 300 hangers in my closet some secret treasure trove that a scrapyard will pay me beaucoup bucks to melt down and send back to Red China?
Assuming that the dry cleaner reuses the wire hangers, I think that’s the most environmental beneficial thing to do with them. (It also helps if you don’t make a special trip just to return them.)
Scrap mixed metal is going for about $32 a ton here in the Northwest. And scrap dealers hate things with wire like hangers, they clog the machines that grind up the metal into small pieces. Your 300 hangers might be worth a buck or two for scrap, take them back to the dry cleaner.
Okay, no cite, but there was a segment on the local news recently discussing the manufacture and sale of wire hangers, and it’s a familiar story. Chinese manufacturers entered the hanger market a while back and undercut the price of wire hangers sold to the dry cleaning industry to corner the market. Wait! Here’s a cite - from New Zealand, no less. As a result, there are no American hanger manufacturers left, which allowed the Chinese companies to raise their prices to the point where they are actually squeezing their buyers, putting considerable cost pressure on the dry cleaning industry. I’m sure they really would like as many of their hangers back as possible.
Actually, if I’m reading that story right, it’s not that the Chinese raised their prices, but rather that the US Government imposed a tariff on Chinese wire hangers, raising the price significantly. Your point that the dry cleaners would like those hangers returned is still quite correct, though.
I’d be all for bringing back my wire hangers to the dry cleaners (I use wooden ones, I have Joancrawfordaphobia) but I’d expect to get some sort of discount on my laundering if I’m saving my dry cleaner a couple of bucks.
I suppose you could open your own abortion clinic (sorry, couldn’t resist), but barring that, I’d suggest taking them back to the dry cleaner. He’s probably paying about $.18 apiece right now, so he’ll be glad to see them. Might even give you 50 cents on the dollar in free service, or something along those lines. Couldn’t hurt to ask.