Steel and plastic reels
Steel and plastic reels are almost always returnable: they are built for many trips, and their owners track them by number. Our runs carry wooden reels, so we send you back to the owner instead. If a steel or plastic reel turns up in a wooden stack, set it aside and call the company named on it.
What steel reels are for
Steel reels carry the heaviest cable and wire rope: utility transmission cable, mining and crane cable, long lengths that would crush a wooden drum. They are expensive to make and built to last for years of trips, so their owners keep careful track of them. Most carry a stencilled name and a reel number, and some are lent to the cable user for the duration of a job and then collected.
What plastic reels are for
Moulded plastic reels are common for smaller cable, wire and some duct. They are light, weatherproof and stack neatly. Some are one-way and sold with the product; many, especially larger ones, are returnable. A plastic reel with an owner's name moulded into the flange belongs to that owner.
Why our runs carry wood
A run is planned around wooden reels: how many of each flange fit across a 102 inch deck, where sound ones can be resold and where broken ones can be recycled. Steel and plastic reels do not fit either end of that. Their owners want them back, and there is no wood to recycle. Mixing them into a wooden load only delays the moment they get home.
What to do with them
- Look for the owner's name, reel number or a tag on the flange.
- Contact that company, or the distributor that supplied the cable, and ask how it collects its reels.
- Keep the reel clean and standing on its flanges until it is collected. Damage can cost a deposit.
- Book a pickup for the wooden reels in the same stack separately.
Many makers publish how they want reels returned. Dura-Line, for instance, publishes a chart showing how many of its reels fit on a 102 inch wide truck so customers can load a return correctly. Service Wire sets out the conditions for its own wooden reel return. Check the owner's site before you call.
Mixed yards
Utility laydown yards often hold all three: bolted wooden reels, a few steel reels and plastic duct reels. Count the wooden ones for us, by flange size, and list the others separately so the driver knows to leave them. That keeps everyone's property where it belongs and the wooden reels moving. See returnable and one-way reels for how we handle stencilled wooden reels in the same stack.
If you want to buy one
We do not sell steel or plastic reels. For wooden spools, sized by flange and graded by condition, see buy wooden spools.
Wood, steel and plastic compared
| Wood | Steel | Plastic | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built for | One trip, or a few if bolted | Years of trips under heavy loads | Light cable, duct and wire, indoors or out |
| Ownership | Mostly one-way; some returnable | Nearly always the owner's | Often the owner's, sometimes one-way |
| Weathering | Rots, splits and swells if left wet | Rusts slowly, repainted between jobs | Fades and cracks in strong sun over years |
| End of life | Resale or wood recycling | Back to the owner for reuse | Back to the owner, or plastics recycling |
| On our runs | Yes | No | No |
Hybrids
Some reels mix materials: wooden flanges with a steel drum, a steel arbor plate on a plank reel, or plastic flanges on a cardboard core. A wooden reel with steel hardware is still a wooden reel, and we take it. A reel that is mostly steel or moulded plastic goes back to its owner, whatever the drum is made of.
Hazards with metal reels
Steel flanges have sharp, sometimes rusted edges, and a steel reel weighs far more than a wooden one of the same diameter. Never roll one by hand down a slope or try to tip it without a forklift. Leftover wire rope on a drum is under tension and can spring when cut. Leave those jobs to the owner's crew, who handle them every week.
Words on this page
- Returnable reel
- A reel the maker or distributor wants back, sometimes with a deposit, usually stencilled with the owner's name.
- One-way reel
- A reel meant to be used once and disposed of; the bulk of what sits in contractor yards.
- Stencil
- The owner's name painted on a flange; a stencilled reel may belong to its maker or distributor.
- Flange
- The round end of a reel; its diameter (24 to 96 inches and up) is how reels are sized, sorted and loaded.
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Steel and plastic questions
Will you take one steel reel mixed in with our wooden ones?
We would rather not. If it is stencilled, it belongs to someone and should go home. If it truly has no owner, ask and we will say what we can do with it.
Can a scrap metal yard take a steel reel?
Only if nobody owns it. A reel with an owner's mark is that owner's property, scrap value or not.
What about small plastic spools from wire or solder?
Those are a different thing altogether: small, light, and handled by your local recycling or the supplier. We collect cable reels from 24 inches up.
Who owns plastic duct reels from a fibre job?
Usually the duct maker or the contractor that bought the duct on a returnable basis. The name moulded into the flange is the first clue, and the delivery paperwork the second.
Why can't you just recycle a plastic reel?
Because ownership comes first, and because a run planned for wood has nowhere suitable to take moulded plastic. The owner's program is the cleanest route home.
Is an aluminium reel treated the same as steel?
Yes. Metal reels of any kind are built for many trips and almost always belong to someone. Contact the name on the flange.