Put metal food and drink cans in your curbside recycling bin. You can take other scrap metal to the Bainbridge Island Senior/Community Center (BISCC).

Zero Waste partners with the BISCC, which hosts bins for collection of small and medium-sized pieces of scrap metal that are not allowed in curbside carts. The BISCC is open Monday-Friday, 9am-4pm.

Go in the front doors and look around the divider for the two containers, as pictured above.
If you can sort the metal into magnetic and non-magnetic before you come or when you get there (a magnet is attached to the “steel” receptacle for that purpose), it is appreciated.

Examples of small items:

  • keys
  • hardware
  • clean metal lids
  • beer and wine caps
  • clean aluminum and aluminum trays
  • completely empty aerosol cans
  • metal hangers
  • hand tools
  • wire

Examples of medium-sized items (place next to bins):

  • silver-plated scratched up/tarnished serving dishes
  • garbage can lids
  • ironing board frames
  • pots and pans
  • mailboxes
  • yard tools
  • folding chair frames
  • rebar
  • toasters
  • blenders (without the glass container)
  • bread makers
  • cable
  • clothing irons
  • coffee makers (without the glass carafe)
  • kitchen and cookware
  • curling irons
  • hair dryers

The amount of allowable nonmetal contamination on an item is 20% by volume. 

Do not put food or drink cans here; they go in regular recycling.

The scrap is taken to a scrapyard and the proceeds are donated to the site host, BISCC.

If you have a question about whether an item is acceptable or not, please email Barbara.

Another option is to take metal (both big and small pieces) directly to the Bainbridge Disposal Transfer Station and put in the scrap metal dumpster. A fee may apply. Yank-a-Part in Poulsbo also takes metal from the public, free of charge.

Examples of scrap metal accepted at the transfer station:

Anything in the lists above, plus…
Barbeques, bicycles, blenders (without the glass container), bread makers, cable, chainsaws, chicken wire, clothing irons, coffee makers (without the glass carafe), cookware, cords (cut off the plug — it cannot go through the machine they use to strip the wire), curling irons, lawn edgers, empty drums, fencing, filing cabinets, fitness equipment, hair dryers, hand tools, kitchenware, lawn mowers (no fluids, no batteries), metal chairs, metal furniture, metal pots, microwaves, miscellaneous metal, rebar, small kitchen and bathroom appliances, tanks (need to be empty and vented — holes drilled or valves removed), toasters, weed eaters, wheel rim, wire, and yard tools.

Not accepted:

  • Glass contamination – examples: glass still in metal frames, vehicle door windows, string lights 
  • Batteries – put these in the battery buckets at the Bainbridge Disposal transfer station
  • Large car parts like pieces of car bodies or complete engines 

Last updated 4/24/2025