Some hacks for keeping your small metal items from getting loose in the recycling system

• tie them up in a plastic bag (the bag will get removed at the sorting plant)
• keep them in a small tin and recycle the whole tin in when it is full
• if they have sharp edges (like razor blades) wrap them in paper

At the sorting plant (MRF), metals are separated by magnets and eddy currents - automated ways of picking up even small bits of metal.