In the mid 1970s, in my welding class, the school was located down the street from a small manufacturer that formed various metal alloys.

They would provide the school with bins of scrap from their manufacturing free of charge. Those were our practice coupons in class. We had to be careful to return the welded scraps back to the proper bin so the manufacturer could recycle them.

Our class was just a very small part of their recycling flow. It was a great relationship, we needed practice materials, and they hired welders.