Scrap grades
Non-ferrous metal
Copper, brass, lead, aluminium and stainless. The metals where sorting properly is the difference between two quite different prices.
Non-ferrous means no iron in it. The practical version: hold a magnet to it, and if nothing happens, it is non-ferrous and it is worth a great deal more per kilo than the steel next to it in the pile.
That magnet is the single most useful thing on this page. A copper cylinder in a load of light iron gets paid for as light iron, and nobody is going to come back and tell you afterwards.
The main grades
Copper
The one worth the most, and the one with the widest spread between grades. Bright, clean copper — new offcuts, shiny wire with no coating — is the top. Then clean pipe and general copper with some tarnish and solder on it. Then heavier tarnished, painted or burnt copper, which is worth noticeably less. Cylinders, pipe, wire, busbar, ends and fittings are all copper, and they do not all price the same.
Brass
Taps, valves, fittings, old door furniture, plumbing waste. Yellowish, heavy, non-magnetic. Sorted brass is worth more than brass with steel components still screwed into it, which is most valves.
Lead
Flashing, roof sheet, old pipe, weights, and diving belts, which turn up surprisingly often. Heavy for its size and very soft — you can mark it with a thumbnail.
Aluminium
Light, non-magnetic, does not rust. Window frames, ladders, wheels, engine parts, litho sheet, saucepans, irrigation pipe. Frames with the glass and rubber still in are worth less than stripped ones, and stripping them is genuinely quick.
Stainless
Sinks, catering equipment, tanks, balustrade, exhaust. Technically it has iron in it and a magnet will sometimes weakly stick, but it is traded as a non-ferrous grade because of the nickel and chrome. 316 is worth more than 304, and if it came out of a kitchen it is almost certainly 304.
Sorting: how much is worth doing
Enough to keep the copper away from the steel. After that it depends entirely on how much you have.
For a householder with one cylinder and a bit of pipe, do nothing beyond keeping them separate from the rest of the load. For a trade generating it weekly, sorting properly is the difference in what the month pays — and that is what a trade collection is for.
What is almost never worth it for a one-off is burning cable to get at the copper. It ruins the grade, it drops the price to burnt, and the smoke from the insulation is genuinely unpleasant. Bring it as it is.
What we will tell you
If you bring in something that is worth more than you think it is, you will be told. That is a low bar and it should not be a selling point, but the reason people ask us to weigh in front of them is that it is not universal.
On the job
What this actually looks like
How it works
Three steps. No site visit.
Send a photo
WhatsApp a picture of whatever needs shifting. No need to tidy it first or guess the weight.
Get a price
A straight number back, usually the same day. The real price for your actual load.
It’s gone
We turn up, load it, sweep up, and you get the paperwork showing where it went.
The money bit
What actually decides what we pay
Nobody likes “it depends”. Here is what it actually depends on, so you can work out roughly where you stand before you ring anyone.
01
What it weighs
The base of it. Weighed on scales you can read, in front of you — not estimated in a back office and written on a docket afterwards.
02
What grade it is
The widest variable by a distance. Bright copper and burnt copper are the same metal and nowhere near the same price. Light iron, heavy scrap and non-ferrous are three different numbers, and keeping them apart is what moves yours.
03
How clean it is
Everything attached that is not the metal comes off the weight that counts — motors in a pile of steel, plastic housings, timber, the foam bonded to a modern cylinder. You do not have to strip it. It just prices as what it is.
04
Whether we collect it
Bringing it in yourself is worth more than having it collected, because collection is a vehicle and a driver. On a decent load the difference is real; on a boot full of oddments it is not worth the fuel.
Why there’s no price list on this page
Because scrap prices move with the metal markets, and they move weekly. Any figure printed here would be out of date before most people read it, and a website quoting last month’s rate is not being transparent — it is being wrong in a direction that never seems to disadvantage whoever published it.
Send a photo of what you have got and you will get today’s number for your actual load. Payment is by bank transfer, because paying cash for scrap has been illegal in this country since 2013 — anyone offering you notes is telling you something about how the rest of their business runs.
More scrap metal
Light iron
Radiators, appliances, bed frames, gates, mixed steel. The everyday grade.
See more →Heavy scrap & shearing
Plate, beam, rail and axles. Anything that has to be cut before it can move.
See more →Batteries
Lead-acid off cars, vans, plant and standby sets. Collected loose or by the pallet.
See more →FAQ
Straight answers
How do I tell if something is non-ferrous?
Hold a magnet to it. If nothing happens it is non-ferrous, and it is worth many times what the steel next to it is worth. That is the most valuable thirty seconds you can spend before anybody quotes you.
Should I burn the insulation off cable?
No. It ruins the grade, it prices as burnt, and the smoke is genuinely unpleasant. Bring it exactly as it is.
Is it worth sorting the grades myself?
Depends entirely on volume. One cylinder and a bit of pipe: just keep it away from the steel. Generating it weekly: sorting properly is the difference in what the month pays.
What areas do you cover?
Wymondham and everywhere down the A11 and A47 — Norwich, Attleborough, Thetford, Diss, Long Stratton and across into Suffolk to Beccles and Bungay. If you are not sure, just ask.
Is it all done legally?
Yes. We are a registered waste carrier and licensed scrap dealer, every load comes with a waste transfer note, and our registration numbers are on every page of this site so you can check them before you ring.
How quickly can you come?
Often the same week, sometimes the same day if we are passing. Tell us where you are and you will get the honest answer rather than the one that gets us the booking.