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Carbide recycling, from your scrap bucket to new powder
Carbide recycling takes worn inserts, end mills, rods and grinding sludge and turns the tungsten carbide and cobalt in them back into powder for new tools. If you have used carbide to recycle, sell it to us: we buy it in any form, pay the shipping from anywhere in the US, and pick up in every city in California, Arizona and Nevada (get a quote).
Why used carbide is worth recycling
Two of the metals in a carbide tool are on the federal critical list. The final 2025 List of Critical Minerals, published in the Federal Register on November 7, 2025, names 60 minerals, and tungsten and cobalt are both on it. USGS describes tungsten as "primarily used to make wear-resistant metals for jet engines, ammunition, and mining and cutting equipment".
Most of both metals comes from abroad. The USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 report no commercial tungsten mining in the United States after 2015, and put US net import reliance for tungsten at more than 50% in each year from 2021 through 2025. For cobalt, the same edition estimates net import reliance at 79% for 2025.
Most of that tungsten ends up in the tools a shop wears out. USGS estimates that 60% of the tungsten consumed in the US in 2025 went into cemented carbide parts for cutting and wear-resistant work, along with 9% of the cobalt. A drawer of dull inserts is a small stock of two imported, critical metals.
Sources: USGS: Interior Department releases final 2025 List of Critical Minerals (November 2025); USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Tungsten; USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Cobalt; Federal Register: Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals (November 7, 2025).
How tungsten carbide recycling works
Zinc reclaim
USGS lays the zinc process out step by step. The scrap is sorted by grade, cleaned of brazing and other impurities, crushed, and dropped into molten zinc under argon gas. The zinc reacts with the cobalt binder and the pieces swell; ITIA says the parts bloat. Vacuum distillation draws the zinc back off for reuse and leaves a porous, crumbly mass that is milled, screened and blended. After chemical analysis and a carbon adjustment, it is ready to press into new parts.
Zinc reclaim leaves the carbide's composition as it was, so the powder goes back into a grade that needs the same or a similar makeup. The catch sits in one USGS line: "This process is not a purification process, and careful sorting and pretreatment to remove oil, solder, and refractory coatings is essential". Whatever goes into the zinc comes out in the powder.
Chemical processing
The chemical route takes the carbide all the way apart. In the most common method the scrap is oxidized, then leached with sodium hydroxide into a sodium tungstate solution. A sludge holding the cobalt and other recovered metals is filtered out, and the solution is purified. ITIA says the result is virgin-grade ammonium paratungstate (APT), the main high-purity intermediate behind most tungsten products.
It can reuse almost any carbide scrap, USGS says, though ITIA notes it burns more energy and chemicals than direct methods like zinc.
| Route | What it can take | What comes out |
|---|---|---|
| Zinc reclaim | Hard scrap that is sorted and clean: inserts, solid tools, parts | Carbide powder with the composition of the scrap |
| Chemical | Almost any carbide scrap, sludge and mixed lots included | APT, the same as material made from ore |
For the US around 2000, USGS estimated that 35% of cemented carbide scrap was recycled chemically, 25% by zinc and 5% by other processes, while the remaining 35% was not recycled. ITIA's 2019 newsletter puts the zinc share of hard scrap in Europe and the US at about a third, with two thirds handled chemically.
Sources: USGS Open-File Report 2005-1028: Tungsten recycling in the United States in 2000; USGS Open-File Report 01-349: Tantalum recycling in the United States in 1998; ITIA: Recycling of tungsten, part 2 (newsletter, August 2019).
Hard scrap and soft scrap
Carbide scrap comes in two kinds. USGS defines hard scrap as solid pieces, cemented carbide parts among them, and soft scrap as fine particles: cutting or grinding sludges, loose powders, swarf and turnings.
The kind decides the route. ITIA says most soft scrap, and most hard scrap that was never sorted, goes through chemical conversion. Sorted, clean solids are the feed the zinc process is built for.
- Hard: inserts, solid end mills, drills and reamers, rods and blanks, dies and wear parts, loose buttons.
- Soft: grinding sludge, swarf, powder and the sweepings from around a grinder.
- Carbide on steel: brazed tools, saw tips, and mining and road bits with the carbide set in a steel body. ITIA says the solder on brazed parts has to come off before processing, while carbide that was pressed into a steel body can be freed later by heat treatment.
Sources: USGS Open-File Report 2005-1028: Tungsten recycling in the United States in 2000; ITIA: Recycling of tungsten, part 2 (newsletter, August 2019); ITIA: Recycling of tungsten, part 1 (newsletter, May 2018).
What this means for a shop with used tools
Sorting starts at your bench, and the zinc route depends on it. A few habits keep your carbide in the shape recyclers want:
- Give carbide a container of its own. Keep steel holders, chips and high-speed steel out of it. ITIA says about 95% of high-speed steel goes into machining tools like drills, taps and milling cutters, so a drill or a milling cutter in the bin could be either metal. Look twice at each one.
- Keep solids and sludge apart. Inserts and round tools go in one bucket, grindings and swarf in a sealed pail.
- Unscrew inserts from their holders. ITIA's own diagram labels a screwed-on insert 100% hardmetal and easy to separate. Leave brazed tips where they are.
- Never grind, crush or cut carbide to make a lot fit a box. OSHA reports that of 12 workers who developed lung disease making or grinding tungsten carbide tools, eight died. ITIA says normal use of finished carbide articles should produce little or no exposure; the danger is the dust.
Our sorting guide goes bin by bin.
Sources: ITIA: Tungsten in steel; ITIA: Recycling of tungsten, part 1 (newsletter, May 2018); OSHA: Cobalt dust (sawmills eTool); ITIA: Health and environment.
How to sell your used carbide to us
We buy used carbide in any form: inserts, round tools, rods, brazed tools, wear parts, bits, grindings and sludge.
- Tell us what you have on the quote form: what form the carbide is in, about how much it weighs, and a few photos. Email the same to help@carbidebuyerusa.com, or call (877) 838-9920.
- We quote the lot from those photos, the form and the weight. We never post a price, because carbide is priced off the tungsten market and every lot is different.
- Ship it from anywhere in the US and we pay the shipping. In California, Arizona and Nevada we can also come to you and pick it up, in any city.
- We pay cash where state law allows. Arizona law bars paying on site for a scrap metal sale of $300 or more; the check or money order goes by mail to the address on the seller's ID, with an exception for industrial accounts that preregister their sellers each year. Nevada requires a check or electronic transfer for scrap metal purchases of $150 or more. California's check-or-wait payment rule is written for copper, copper alloys, stainless steel and aluminum, and carbide is not on that list. Our guide to the state rules covers ID, records and holds.
The full walk-through is on sell carbide scrap, and packing heavy boxes is covered on ship your scrap. Have titanium, Inconel or Stellite too? We buy exotic metals and alloys as well.
Sources: Arizona Revised Statutes 44-1642: Scrap metal transaction records and payment; Nevada Revised Statutes chapter 647 (NRS 647.098: method of payment); California AB 1508 (Chapter 531, Statutes of 2012): Business and Professions Code 21608.5.
Questions sellers ask
Are you a carbide recycling company?
We are the buying end of it: a family owned and operated business that buys scrap carbide in any form, plus exotic metals and alloys. Ship your lot to us from anywhere in the US and we pay the shipping, or in California, Arizona and Nevada we come to you and pick it up.
Is there carbide recycling near me?
If you are in California, Arizona or Nevada, we pick up in every city in all three states. Anywhere else in the US, pack it up and ship it to us, and we pay the shipping. Start on the quote page.
What do carbide recycling prices depend on?
Mostly on how much tungsten and cobalt is in the lot and how much of it is something else: steel shanks, braze, oil, water or high-speed steel mixed in. The tungsten market moves too, which is why we quote each lot from its photos, form and weight instead of posting a list. Carbide scrap price explains the rest.
Do you buy carbide sludge and grindings for recycling?
Yes. Keep sludge in a sealed, labeled pail, note which coolant it came out of, and do not let it dry into dust. Our page on grindings and sludge covers handling it.
Keep reading
Sell carbide scrap
Ship it to us from anywhere in the US, or we pick up in CA, AZ and NV
Learn more
Carbide scrap price
What sets the price of scrap carbide, and how to get today's number for yours
Learn moreHow to sort carbide scrap
Keep it clean and separated to get the most for it
Learn more
Grindings, sludge and powder
Carbide grinding sludge, swarf and powder
Learn more
What is tungsten carbide?
What it is made of, grades and cobalt content
Learn moreGet a quote for your carbide
Tell us what form it is in, about how much it weighs, and send a few photos. Ship it to us from anywhere in the US and we pay the shipping, or we pick up in California, Arizona and Nevada.