What Should You Do With Metal Scrap You’re Not Sure Is Worth Anything?

You’ve seen those backyards that have a few pieces of twisted metal strewn around, guessed that it’s gold or trash, and ended up at the “tinfoil” end of that spectrum. Every week, here at METALMAX Recyclers, we will receive calls from Sydney residents, tradies, and site managers with the same question: “Is this worth collecting, or should I just skip it?” The fact is, the worth of scrap metal doesn’t always come in easily, and people don’t always realize it.

This guide explains how to determine your actual scrap value, why scrap metal prices fluctuate Sydney-wide, and, most importantly, that the better choice in determining actual scrap value is to contact your local Sydney scrap metal recycling service rather than your skip bin service.

The Client Who Almost Skip Binned $2000

The builder who demolished the laundry/garage extension in Parramatta a few months ago called us with an inquiry to get rid of the other day. The remaining materials in the mix, cold steel beams, window frames, and old copper pipes, along with a mess of electrical cable, were just construction waste in his view. He was going to place it in a skip bin and dispose of it as usual, paying the waste disposal charge.

He had one of his coworkers mention the pile to him before he made a booking, and the other man said that maybe he should check with a scrap man first before booking, just in case. The copper pipe alone accounted for a lot of the value; the aluminum and cable easily made up the rest, and on his cleanup costs, we were able to recover a good amount of what he spent renovating. He was not charged to take it away, but was given a fee to take it away.

This is the story for most of those “not sure if it’s worth anything” piles that we’ve ever collected! This instability doesn’t mean that the metal is worthless; it’s just that it has not been separated and analyzed yet.

So How Is the Value of Scrap Metal Actually Established?

Knowing what to look for in estimating the worth of scrap metal is about as easy as having it arrive on a silver platter, because it will help you make a realistic decision on binning, storing, or selling your scrap.

• Often, the nonferrous metals such as copper, brass, and aluminum will be more valuable per kilo than the ferrous metals, such as steel and iron, due to the fact that they are more expensive to mine and process new.
• Purity: Clean, unmixed metal is better paid than metal that is coated, painted, rusted, or fused to other metals.
• Weight and volume: The bigger the load, the better per kg rates, as bulk pickups are easier for the recyclers to process.
• A variable commodity market and changing tides: base rates in commodity prices can always change, and so can the prices a Sydney scrap metal recycler offers.
• Sorting is less valuable because a mixed pile is less valuable together as a whole than if it were sorted into metal type.

Much of the confusion surrounding Mixed Metal Scrap Value is caused by this. One stack could have a bit of everything: fittings (brass), offcuts (aluminum), brackets (steel), copper wire, etc., with each having a different rate. More often than not, a recycler will look at the mix, separate what can be separated, and pay according to the mix; this is not a one-price “junk” fee.

You Never Know What Your “Junk” Might Be Worth

When evaluating if it is worth calling up a pile to make a call, there are a couple of simple checks that can help guide you. Copper or aluminum is commonly found under insulation or casing in old components, pipework, or wiring. Window frames, gutters, and ladders are often aluminum and can be reasonably priced even when these items are not in good condition. Other things that are being neglected are brass taps, fittings, and brass hardware for doors. The common mistake people make is that they don’t think that anything that small matters.

On construction and demolition sites in particular, offcuts of structural steel, reinforced, ducting, etc. come with a weight count once you start adding them up in bulk. The value of a load is not just the individual load; it’s the weight combined with all of the other loads.

Guessing Is a Very Poor Strategy, and You Don’t Need to Make This a Rule

There are two ways to try and guess the value of scrap metal. You either think it’s worthless and it is all gone, or you think of everything as worth money and then are disappointed when a truckload of ferrous low grade. Neither is a positive result, and both are easily avoided by a casual inspection from a man who does it daily, all day.

This is particularly important for builders and metal managers who are exposed to metal waste regularly. There’s scrap being created all the time at reno sites or in old plumbing, from obsolete fixtures demolished to wasteful site cleanouts, and the best thing to do is to treat it all as garbage, since it is!

How to Deal With the Situation If You Have to Guess

The more prudent option is simple: it is less confusing to deal with certainty instead of uncertainty.

• When contacting the recycler, share some images and a description of the load you are taking, such as estimates of the amount of weight and any additional information you have about the type(s) of metals you are selling.
• Don’t commingle the different types of solid waste until the scrap loads are evaluated, as the contaminated loads are not easy to assign a price to.
• Instead of carrying heavy items on your back, enquire about a scrap metal Sydney pickup service for the scrapped heavy material at the site.
• If you’re stacking up a large skip bin, obtain the price before you agree to go to waste, as the scrap value and collection prices will work out differently.
• Sort metals separately wherever possible to make processing faster and help improve prices, even if it has to be done roughly by metal type, such as a pile of copper followed by aluminum and then piles of brass or steel.