How to Scrap Metal

You can get cash for scrap metal at a dealer.

Selling scrap metal can be a profitable hobby. It doesn’t pay to throw away old appliances when you can recycle them and make a quick buck. Scrap metal also includes aluminum cans, electrical wiring, and anything else that is made of metal and laying around.

Things You'll Need

• Metal snips
• Buckets

Instructions

1. Look for scrap metal just about anywhere: garages, sheds and the side of the road. Ask neighbors, friends and family if they need old appliances hauled off. Post in your local classifieds or on Craigslist.org and offer to haul metal free.

2. Identify metal types: Copper has a unique red/orange color. Aluminum is silver, shiny, doesn't rust, isn't magnetic and is lightweight. Brass is a dark gold, doesn't rust and isn't magnetic. Steel is silver, heavy, rusts and is magnetic. Stainless steel is silver, shiny, heavy, doesn't rust and isn't magnetic.

3. Dismember old appliances by pulling out insulated copper wiring. Snip copper pipes out of refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners. Remove aluminum/copper coils out of air conditioning units. Remove brass fittings.

4. Sort the metals into an individual bucket for each metal type: copper in one bucket, brass in a different bucket, and so forth. This ensures that you will get top dollar for your scrap. Scrap yards pay lower if the metals are mixed together.

5. Compare prices by calling your local scrap yards to ask what prices they offer for the metals you have. Sell to the highest bidder if you are selling in bulk or settle for the most convenient location if it suits you.

6. Watch scrap metal prices, which fluctuate weekly. Sell your metals when prices are high, not when they are low. Hold onto the scrap until prices go up if you want to make more profit.

7. Visit a scrap yard when prices are optimal. If you have a small amount of metal -- less than 100 pounds -- it goes on a small scale to be weighed. You are paid for the weight. If you have a bulk amount of metal -- more than 100 pounds -- you drive your vehicle onto a giant scale, where it is weighed. Drive off the scale, dump your scrap into a pile and drive back onto the scale to be reweighed. The scrap yard pays you for the weight difference. So if your vehicle is 500 pounds lighter after dumping the scrap out, you receive cash for 500 pounds of scrap.

References

• Rio Grande: Convert Your Precious Metal Scrap To Buying Power
• IRS.gov: Cash Intensive Businesses Audit Techniques Guide - Chapter 16: Scrap Metal

Resources

• RecycleInMe