Scrap Metal Prices are Up

If your looking to make some extra money scrap metal prices are 75 to 80% of their historical highs - so if you have any scrap metal lying around the yard or if you drink a lot of can beer - sell that stuff to your local scrap metal dealer & make a few bucks.

"Business is booming at scrap yards, where recycling and metal dealers are seeing a growing number of homeowners and non-traditional clients making the extra trip to cash in their used bikes, old tools and discarded soda cans. The scrap yards also have their share of regular customers, including contractors, who consider what they expect to earn in scraps when they bid for a job, and peddlers, who drive around retrieving metal discards.

At Schneider's, an old bike can bring in $3. Someone can pocket $12 for an aluminum wheel. Copper and steel parts inside an old air conditioner could yield close to $20. An old cast-iron bathtub nets $40. And an old stainless steel sink? Another $12.

Owner John Schneider said the recession lured all types of scrappers to his yard, but the rising price for scrap could be a signal that the economy may be rebounding.

"Overall, our prices are about 75 to 80% of historical highs," said Schneider, who said that the strong demand for products means more cash in the pockets of the steady stream of scrappers driving through. "Of course, it all trickles down."

Peter Grandich, a Freehold, N.J., metals analyst, said the international demand in steel and metals has fueled price increases, despite the beleaguered economy. Metal prices, he said, are up anywhere from 100% to 500% from where they were a decade ago"

Scrap Metal.

Here in central Texas, I was told just yesterday that a scrapped washing machine gets 20 bucks. A scrapped car will bring up to $400. However, you better hurry. The high prices are mostly due to Chinese demand and the latest info says that Chinese manufacturing is slowing, meaning less demand for all metal.

Thanks for the heads up, every little bit counts and i do believe i have old window frames and some rusty old tools that i can pay for lunch, its funny this topic got brought up cause my neighbor just put a bunch of "scrap" out on the corner of one her rental properties and noticed a red truck grabbing the shiny stuff while walking the dog couple days ago. Cheers to you!

Nice ! I have quite a bit of copper to bring in

Scrap is still getting tired old prices in some places.......good on ya if ya can do better than 80 cents a pound for aluminium....a buck for copper (clean) and 50 cents for wiring still in its plastic.

reply to post by stirling


Gee I get close to 3.90 per pound for copper grade 1 ( the last time I went anyway )

Good of you to share, OP. Been enjoying that hike, locally, until recently. The local smelters were paying $15 and change for steel and iron per hundred weight when it dropped to 13.75 yesterday. My rate, however, is slightly, higher due to negotiation as a bulk customer; the general population is getting 11.50 per 100 weight as of today. $11.50 isn't bad, but Aliensun is right, it's best to not dilly dally. ~

I get approx £8 UK money for each dead car battery I trade in.
Makes you a few quid over the years..

Also,if you get any work done on your house heating or plumbing,ask the workers to leave you all the metal.
I got a good few quid for my old copper water heater tank a while back,would have got more if I had saved it for nowadays though.

Deformed alloy wheels also go for good weigh in money.

At the moment though,I am keeping bits of copper and tin,for my as yet unbuilt forge,which I aim to make bronze arrow heads from some time this summer.



Don't go robbing electrical power plants or lead from church roofs though-which is becoming the national sport of the bandit class in the UK sadly.
Bad karma to do that.

with lead acid batteries you might want to think about recondirioning them with epsom salts
they are worth more dead then alive.
and the lead has antimony in it which is what bullets are generally made of

Be aware, all that are going to sell scrap, that many scrap yards are now recording all info of the person scrapping, and in some states (such as Oregon) it is now a legal requirement that they document and track all scrap.

Not saying there is anything nefarious about it. Just throwing that info out there.

reply to post by Danbones


I have epsom salts-how do you recon the batteries DB?
I would love to try that.
I have a cracking dead truck battery I used to use with an inverter for outdoor power.
Be great to get that going.