What Scrap Metal Is Worth the Most?

Copper. Of the metals people bring to a scrap yard, copper pays the most per kilo, and clean, bright copper wire is the best-paid copper grade. Brass comes next, then the other non-ferrous metals, with ordinary steel at the bottom. Rates move with the metal markets every week, so for a figure, call or WhatsApp us. This guide is about the order, and what moves your metal up it.

From most to least

• Copper: bright stripped wire first, then clean No. 1 pipe and solids, then No. 2.
• Brass: taps, valves and fittings. Clean, unplated coast brass grades above mixed brass.
• Then, in an order that shifts with the markets: heavy insulated copper cable, stainless steel (316 above 304), lead, aluminium, and copper-bearing items such as radiators, motors and compressors.
• Lower-grade cable and car wire.
• Steel, at the bottom: heavy melting steel, then light iron and whitegoods.

Copper stays at the top and steel stays at the bottom. The middle of the list moves as metal markets move.

What moves your metal up a grade

• Sort it. A mixed load is graded on what is actually in it, so a bag of copper with brass fittings through it is not paid as copper.
• Take off the attachments. Steel screws, plastic handles, glass, rubber and laminate all count against the weight.
• Cut off fittings and solder. Clean pipe is No. 1 copper; the same pipe with joints on is No. 2.
• Drain it. Oil, coolant and water add weight that is not metal.
• Strip thick cable, not thin. Bright copper is the top grade, but thin cable is rarely worth the time.