Why Aluminium Scrap Is Worth Less Than Copper (But Still Pays)

Why Is Aluminium Scrap Worth Less Than Copper But Still Worth Collecting?

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you had a lot of good quality copper wire and some off-shape aluminium, possibly from an old TV cabinet, and wondered about the value of the aluminum versus the copper? We are inundated with this customer’s most common question, from tradies, builders, and the average Sydneysider who brings scrap in at our yard. The simple answer is that on demand copper is more expensive and scarcer than aluminium to extract and is therefore more expensive. However, the lower price tag for aluminum doesn’t mean it’s not worth your effort, and by educating yourself with the facts you begin to see sense in collecting it.

We work on site with both metals every chance we get, and as a Sydney construction company, we have actually seen this firsthand: just roll on by, thinking “it’s not worth the trouble” and letting some valuable value go out the window. That’s a costly mistake for people to make since they were better off keeping the funds in their own pockets.

A Quick Story: The Sydney Builder Who Changed His Mind

One of our regular clients, Dave, a builder servicing the western suburbs of Sydney, recently contacted us to inquire whether it was worth removing the aluminium window frames from his wrecking sites, along with the material he was discarding as offcuts, a few months ago. He had been throwing them all in the same skip with the bin waste for years because the value of the aluminum has not been considered to be high enough.

Showed him the numbers and helped him through them. On one of the renovation projects, he’d removed aluminium framing and gutter offcuts and downpipes of about 200 kilograms. That pile alone would be worth tens of hundreds of dollars at Sydney aluminum scrap prices and would have been contributing to his skip bin costs to the tipway, much of which would have instead gone to capitalizing the economy. He began separating his aluminium on each and every contract, and the figures quickly mounted. After a year, it became a significant source of additional income that almost covered its own costs: sorting took only a few minutes, and the metal was already there to be sorted.

This is no exception to Dave’s story. It’s one we hear on a regular basis from builders, renovators and demolition teams throughout Sydney who never dared to add it all up.

Why Copper Outprices Aluminium

One explanation of a low price for aluminium is to examine the factors that would explain the price of scrap metal in the first place. Its properties, density, energy to mine and purify, and applications in electrical wiring and plumbing, having no cheap alternatives, are important. This is a situation of scarcity coupled with demand that holds copper prices many times higher than aluminium, many of the time.

Aluminium is so much more plentiful, lighter, and cheaper to process from raw ore. It’s used very much in construction and other products as well, and so there is more of it for sale at any time. With more supply and a less energy-intensive refining process, it is obvious that copper would be a less expensive option than aluminium.

All this does not imply that aluminium is inferior to invest in terms of time. It just indicates that it operates under different values and parameters, and when you understand that, it becomes clear why it’s worth collecting.

Aluminium Scrap Value Is Still the Same Considering the Advantages of Collecting It

That’s where the true value of aluminium recycling lies, and it is a discussion we have with clients for virtually every job site we visit.

Aluminium can be seen all around a construction site, from window frames to gutters, downpipes and flashing through to cans of drink after crews are finished.

• It is lightweight, which can make transport and bulk storage easy and without added stress on heavier metals such as copper or steel.
• In successfully maintaining a steady supply of aluminium for their own growing demand, recyclers typically need to recycle about 95% of the energy required for making new aluminium from raw ore.
• The lower per-kilo copper price is offset by volume, because although aluminium scrap may cost less per kilo, massive quantities of it are likely to be found on most jobs.
• Among the simplest of metals that can be identified and sorted, it does not require a lot of time or effort to separate from general waste.

The cost per kilo may be a bit cheaper, but the overall quantity, quality, and convenience with which the aluminium can be collected may make it one of the best scrap metals to collect for anybody who regularly conducts construction or renovation work.

There Are So Many Times When You Will Think You Need to Gather a Ton of Aluminium

You’ll find yourself thinking that you need to collect tons of aluminium several times. Aluminum is always at the top of the list, not only for its price, but also because when you’re considering which pieces of scrap are worth your time, you can’t go wrong taking some pieces of aluminium with you. It’s one of the easiest and highest volume scrap metals to sell as well as one of the more profitable ones to collect as well, because it’s always in demand by the recyclers. Unlike certain metals which might involve being handled specialistically or could present contamination issues, clean aluminium is simple to sort, store, and sell and is therefore a great place to begin if you are just getting started in the scrap collection business.

Aluminium is mostly found on old fittings, offcuts of framing, packaging, and demolition waste and is easily collected without interrupting your building routine, particularly for builders and tradespeople.

Seeking the Top Returns You Can Get in Sydney With Scrap Aluminium? Here Are Some Tips

It’s not only required that you arrive with a bag of scrap to get a fair price. Simple tips can have a big impact on the bottom line:

• Note that aluminium should be kept away from other metals; combined loads can typically be retrieved for the lowest common denominator.
• Wherever possible, eliminate attachments such as plastic, rubber, or insulation, as contamination can decrease your payout.
• See updated aluminium scrap price Sydney rates before making heavy loads and find out that both rates are fluctuating in line with the international demand.
• Consider transporting large loads more efficiently; time it out over the course of days or months by stacking smaller loads together.
• An honest and clear recycler is one that weighs and prices its materials so you can be certain you know what you are paying for.

They, however, are little things that won’t affect the base price for aluminium but are going to ensure that you can make the most of every load you take in.