Selling scrap metal?

[Toaster Pilot]

As I fix up more and more old cars I seem to be growing a pile of scrap in the corner of my workshop - rusty old spare wheels with bald tyres, knackered exhausts, dented body panels, etc etc

I know there's money to be made from scrap or so our tipper driving caravan inhabiting friends would have you believe - but I'm pretty unfamiliar with how much or where to sell it - I assume I need to find somewhere that is actually going to recycle the metal rather than a "scrap yard" which sells second hand car parts

Any advice? Feel like a bit of a tit for asking something that's probably really obvious to a lot of people but I've no idea

[vtecyo]

I was under the impression that whatever scrapyards don't use / sell, they sell off to get sent to the docks and shipped over to China? Shredded car shells / cubed cars etc.

[andy-xr]

http://www.yell.com/s/scrap+metal+merchants-glouce...

[raceboy]

It's not going to make you rich.
I recently had the issue of a collection of used brake discs and a few suspension bits cluttering up the garage, the council 'tip' wouldn't take them as there were 'car parts' so a quick google located the nearest scrap metal 'recycler' down I went with the bits in the boot, car got weighed, chuck scrap in the correct bin for what it was, weighed again, and given a ticket for the 'office', these days they can't pay cash, so a swipe of the cash card and a whole £5 was in my bank account, fractionally less profitable than taking old clothes to the local 'we buy any rags' places.

[Toaster Pilot]

wow it's hardly worth my time for that kind of money!

[Martin350]

Last time I went for a weigh-in with a boot full of old scrap, a lot of brake discs, suspension parts etc. I got about £35.
Better than nowt for stuff I was throwing away.

Car batteries are ok, usually around £5-7 each.

[glasgowrob]

depends on the metal and the current prices,


can be very lucrative if you presort and stockpile till the prices are high

[Gypsum Fantastic]

Toaster Pilot said:

wow it's hardly worth my time for that kind of money!

Steel won't be unless you have tonnes of it. But if someone will pay you a few quid to take it away then it's a bonus I suppose. Just keep an eye out and make sure you're not scrapping a more valuable metal with it.

[soad]

Toaster Pilot said:

wow it's hardly worth my time for that kind of money!

It must be fairly profitable, judging by the numbers of Romanians driving old knackered Transits collecting any scraps of metal.

[theshrew]

I watched a program on TV a while ago. Fella had a van driving around collecting stuff. From what he was saying he made a fair bit each week.

As others have said it just depends on the price at the time. It wasn't that long ago people had to pay a scrap dealer to take a car off your hands.

[was8v]

Car batteries, catalytic converters and alloy parts (wheels) are the things to save up.

Piles of steel parts not so much, but better to take them to the correct bin and get a few quid than put them into mixed waste.

[soad]

I (wrongly) assumed used car batteries were worth bugger all. Full of acid after all.

[Toaster Pilot]

soad said:

I (wrongly) assumed used car batteries were worth bugger all. Full of acid after all.

Euro Car Parts pay £3 or something like that for an old battery so i assume they have some value

[B'stard Child]

Martin350 said:

Last time I went for a weigh-in with a boot full of old scrap, a lot of brake discs, suspension parts etc. I got about £35.
Better than nowt for stuff I was throwing away.

Car batteries are ok, usually around £5-7 each.

Cat's are still worth a few quid but the key to it all is what previous posters have said - make sure the materials are sorted

Mixed metal (copper,brass,steel,alloy) fetches less than steel most of the time so if you sort it all you get the best price per metal type

Metal Type	Price (£/KG)	Updated	Examples
Aluminium	£0.60	22/06/2014	Automobile parts, Packaging, B
Brass	£2.00	29/09/2014	taps, Ornaments, Artefacts.
316 stainless turnings	£0.90	30/06/2014	316 stainless turnings
Bright Copper Wire	£3.60	29/09/2014	Stripped wire.
PVC Wire	£1.20	29/09/2014	Copper wire coated in PVC.
Low Grade Cable	£0.75	29/09/2014	Electrical cables with steel a
High Grade PVC wire	£2.30	29/09/2014	Largesingle core Copper cable
Aluminium Cable with copper.	£0.80	29/09/2014	High quality coils, Headphone
Heavy Copper	£3.20	29/09/2014	Piping with solder joints, Pai
Braziery Copper	£2.80	29/09/2014	Piping with solder joints, Hou
Copper Tanks	£3.00	30/06/2014	Domestic/Industrial boilers, W
Foamy Tanks and Lead Wash Copper	£2.60	22/06/2014	Insulated tanks, Lead washed
aluminium turnings	£0.40	29/09/2014	aluminium turnings
Motors	£0.40	22/06/2014	electric motors
Stainless steel turnings	£0.65	29/09/2014	304 stainless turnings
Lead	£0.80	29/09/2014	Old roofing lead, Lead piping,
Cast Iron and Steel	£0.07	29/09/2014	Tools, Building materials, Car
316 Stainless Steel	£1.00	29/09/2014	normally used in chemical or Pharma
Stainless Steel	£0.70	29/09/2014	Cooking equipment, Household items

So good examples are a few mins stripping the foam of a central heating tank can make a £0.40 per kg difference

Wire without PVC sleeve is £2.40 per kg more and the PVC doesn't weigh much and running it thro a mangle splits the PVC and makes separating the wire easy

But As I said mix it all up and you'll get sometimes less than steel money £0.07 Per KG when if there are elements of any other more valuable metal in there you are giving money away to the dealer

Edited by B'stard Child on Friday 3rd October 14:43

[B'stard Child]

Don't forget - you can't get cash for scrap anymore - you have to provide ID and bank details so any payments can be traced - if you use the same dealer they retain your details so the first time is always the slowest but after that it's easy

I have a few waste bins (open topped 25L water containers) in the garage and my scrap goes in there when one or more is full I weigh it all in (normally just before Le Mans as it gives me some free spending money)

[Camoradi]

I see you're in Gloucestershire OP. Try H Burford and Sons on the bypass road between Stonehouse and Stroud.

They'll weigh in whatever you have and give you a cheque for it

[Willeh85]

It's pretty straight forward, I did it recently with all the metal I'd put to one side from renovating my house. Just type into Google scrap metal merchant and your town name for the closest one. They may even have the price they're currently paying for different metals on their website.

Make sure you sort as much of it as you can first to make it easier when you get to the scrap yard. I got £170 for a 4x4 full off assorted metals, £130 of which was for a copper tank and all the old pipe work I'd removed from my small bungalow.

All I had to do when I got there was put the car on the in weighbridge, go to the site office and provided my drivers license and recent bank statement, dump my metal at the correct sorting area where you'd get a receipt for that type, drive the car onto the out weighbridge, and get a breakdown of prices and weight for what I'd dumped and the money paid via refund to my debit card which I got 2 days later.

All in a fun morning out, looooads of banter with the site guys, and £170 for keeping my scrap metal rather than dumping it in a skip. I put the money towards some nicer electrical fittings.

[RDB]

I've used this yard before: http://www.burkebros-cheltenham.co.uk/

I took a battery and some old suspension/brake parts down there and came away with around £15 a few years ago. Haven't had enough in one go to make it worthwhile since.

[Mercury00]

B'stard Child said:

Metal Type	Price (£/KG)	Updated	Examples
Aluminium	£0.60	22/06/2014	Automobile parts, Packaging, B
Brass	£2.00	29/09/2014	taps, Ornaments, Artefacts.
316 stainless turnings	£0.90	30/06/2014	316 stainless turnings
Bright Copper Wire	£3.60	29/09/2014	Stripped wire.
PVC Wire	£1.20	29/09/2014	Copper wire coated in PVC.
Low Grade Cable	£0.75	29/09/2014	Electrical cables with steel a
High Grade PVC wire	£2.30	29/09/2014	Largesingle core Copper cable
Aluminium Cable with copper.	£0.80	29/09/2014	High quality coils, Headphone
Heavy Copper	£3.20	29/09/2014	Piping with solder joints, Pai
Braziery Copper	£2.80	29/09/2014	Piping with solder joints, Hou
Copper Tanks	£3.00	30/06/2014	Domestic/Industrial boilers, W
Foamy Tanks and Lead Wash Copper	£2.60	22/06/2014	Insulated tanks, Lead washed
aluminium turnings	£0.40	29/09/2014	aluminium turnings
Motors	£0.40	22/06/2014	electric motors
Stainless steel turnings	£0.65	29/09/2014	304 stainless turnings
Lead	£0.80	29/09/2014	Old roofing lead, Lead piping,
Cast Iron and Steel	£0.07	29/09/2014	Tools, Building materials, Car
316 Stainless Steel	£1.00	29/09/2014	normally used in chemical or Pharma
Stainless Steel	£0.70	29/09/2014	Cooking equipment, Household items

fking hell. I've been collecting little offcuts of aluminium from bits I'm making, thinking I could take them to the scrapyard and get something back from them. It'll take me the rest of my life to get £10 back looking at this list

[jonnM]

Most ordinary metals aren't worth much as scrap. Tungsten carbide is one of the exceptions, at £12 a kilo.