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Tips and Tricks!

Here you can find some helpful tips and tricks when turning in your scrap metal. We want you to get the most money from your scrap. Recycling is good for the environment and it's also good for your wallet...here are a few simple things you can do to get the most out of your recycling trips.

Copper

Cleaning copper properly can be confusing for some, but we promise, it's really easy and usually worth the time!

  1. #1 and #2 copper are defined as any copper that is thicker than a pencil lead and is not coated.

  2. To turn your #2 copper into #1 copper you simply need to clean (cut or remove) any fittings off, any other metal or non-copper materials off. This includes paint, plastic, rubber, tape, solder or anything else. #1 copper is simply just 100% clean pure copper.

  3. Another category of copper is Bare Bright. Bare Bright is bright shiny clean or new copper and is worth a little more than #1 copper.

Copper Wire

Copper wire has a TON of different categories...to make it easier on ourselves and on you guys, we only buy in 3 categories. Then we do the extra sorting and preparing accordingly. Here you can learn what the different types of wire are and how to clean them properly. 

  1. The categories of wire are: #1 Wire, CCW (copper coated wire or insulated wire), and Harness Wire/Xmas Tree Wire. 

  2. The difference between #1 Wire and regular CCW is that #1 Wire is thicker than a pencil lead and that there is no tin coating.

  3. When you clean your wire of all non-copper materials (rubber, plastic, etc) it becomes #1 copper! There's a huge price difference here, so this is usually worth the effort.

  4. Burning copper wire is illegal. While it does remove the coating, it hurts the environment and you shouldn't do it. Instead, you can use a tool called a wire stripper or if you don't have a wire stripper you can also use a utility knife.

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