5 Valuable Scrap Metals To Recycle Today - Cohen (2024)

Many factors affect the price of metal, like supply and demand. When there’s a ready supply of metal for manufacturers to buy, the scrap prices aren’t as high as when there is a shortage or higher demand. Prices also depend on your geographical area, the quality of your metals, and the time of year. Not all metals are created equally. Your copper wires might be made of pure copper, while the pipes and plumbing fixtures in your old house could be a copper alloy, such as brass, that is cut with other metals.

‌During the spring and summer when temperatures are warmer, construction and manufacturing is usually steadier. Car manufacturers, construction, and other manufacturing jobs can be impacted by cold weather, which slows down production. As such, production tends to be higher in the summer. You might want to hold onto your scrap metal until the summer to see if you can get a better price for it.

Copper is among the most valuable metals for most scrappers. Pound for pound, it is worth more than most other common metals and is the king of non-ferrous metals. Not all copper products are worth the same, though, and the price of copper can change dramatically over time compared to other metals. The price you are paid for your scrap copper will depend on the market value that day as well as the type and condition of the copper you’ve brought. Copper sheet, for example, is more valuable per pound than plastic-coated copper wire because there is a higher copper content. Brass and bronze are commonly found in plumbing; as alloys of copper, they still have some value but not as much as copper itself.

If you have a large quantity of high value copper you could make a decent amount of money from scrapping. But this is not easy to come by outside of machining and industrial settings. To improve copper value, separate the uncontaminated copper from any of your copper that has been soldered, coated, painted, damaged, etc. If you separate this before you get to the scale at the recycling center and let the operator know what you have, you run less risk of everything being graded as contaminated.

When a car is scrapped, it is drained of fluids, crushed, and shredded, and the metal contents are separated from the non-metals to be used for recycling. All cars, regardless of age or condition, are recycled as ferrous scrap. You can estimate the scrap value of your car by multiplying its weight in tons by the current price for scrap iron. Most cars weigh between 1 and 2 tons and can be worth a couple hundred dollars in scrap. Call ahead for current pricing.

You will also need the car’s title and some other information in order to scrap your car. Read up on therequirements for car recyclingbefore you visit. Not all Cohen scrap yards can accept cars so pleasecheck our mapfirst to make sure you are visiting a car location.

Become familiar with different types of metal so you have accurate information. In its best condition, copper is a reddish color. If it’s older, it might be darker with green spots where the metal has oxidized, like an old penny.(No, old pennies are not recyclable.)

‌Aluminum is soft and easy to bend. It is naturally silver, but might be painted, particularly if you have cans. If you have more than one type of aluminum, like cans and a piece of a gutter, separate them. Since these are priced differently, it’s easier for the recycling center to calculate the value when they are sorted.

‌Since steel is a common household metal, there’s likely a lot of it in your house. You can find steel anywhere, from a car frame to appliances.

Some of the most common items sold for scrap metal are cables, pipes, and other construction materials. Before you take your metal to the scrap yard, break it down into its basic components – otherwise known as “cleaning.” Scrap that has been separated from non-metal material before it comes to the scrap yard will be worth more than “unclean” scrap. You can do this by stripping PVC and other tubing materials from cables and pipes.

‌Many household appliances don’t have enough metal in them to make them worth scrapping. You could pull your vacuum cleaner apart to get to the small motor and circuit board that might be inside, but the process takes time, and what you get out of the effort may not weigh enough to be worth more than a few cents. (That’s why scrap yards pay less for metal that’s mixed with other materials, too.) However, larger items like washing machines and dryers can contain a lot ofscrappable metal, particularly if they are older.

‌Some items, likerefrigeratorsandair conditioners, contain dangerous chemicals. Since these chemicals are stored in a compressor to run the appliance, they are considered non-reusable. All states in the country require appliances that contain freon and other greenhouse gasses to be disposed of by professionals. Don’t tear apart your own compressor — you could face steep fines and be turned away at the recycling center.

Even if you don’t have a ton of copper wire and piping that can net you a large profit, recycling metal is still worth your time. Metal is a non-renewable resource, and there is only a finite amount of metal on the planet. Recycling makes it possible to make more without having to extract it‌.

Recycling also helps the environment. Creating products with recycled metals saves energy and reduces a company’s carbon footprint. Additionally, metalslike steelare infinitely recyclable. Melting existing items down and creating new forms from that metal doesn’t impact the metal’s structure and durability. While some recyclable items like plastic and paper eventually break down and become unusable, metal can be used forever.