Beginner’s Guide: Metal Scrapping

For someone unfamiliar with the scrap industry, beginning the process of scrapping and recycling metals might be a daunting undertaking. Additionally, obtaining beginner-friendly material that clarifies where to begin is tough. The crew at KC Dumpster has years of expertise in the scrap sector and breathes it daily. We can identify some of the most frequent products that a beginning scrapper would often encounter. Depending on various criteria, some of these products can and should be disassembled for their internal components.

How Do You Start Metal Scrapping?

The classic adage “Time is money” applies to many aspects of scrapping. If you spend more time disassembling objects, you must guarantee that you will earn more money than if you were to shred them. Once you start metal scrapping, especially if it is your full-time occupation, it is essential to determine your hourly rate and value your time. Initially, you may be worth $30 per hour, but your hourly value may increase as you get more efficient and learn the ins and outs of scrapping. It is crucial to keep this in mind when you are just beginning out, and also to remember that if you are new to something, you will likely make some mistakes at first, but that is how you learn.

 

 

To Disassemble or Not to Disassemble, That Is the Scrapping Question

Monitors & TVs – TVs may appear to be a terrific deal, but monitors and screens are not accepted by many trash yards, making it tough to locate a company that buys them. You may clip the wire off the televisions and remove the copper yoke from the rear of the televisions. The copper yoke is a plastic cone encircled with copper wire. You can extract the copper wire and expect to be compensated at the rate for #2 copper wire. Computer monitors can have their cables severed, but that is about all.

Air Conditioner Units: Similar to refrigerators, air conditioner units may be discarded whole or disassembled for their internal components. The Freon must also be lawfully removed by an HVAC professional before you may disassemble the remaining equipment. Once the Freon is removed, the steel casing, copper tubing, sealed unit, electric motor, and aluminum/copper fin coil may also be removed. Using a Sawzall, remove the steel off the side of the fin to obtain a price for an aluminum/copper fin if you wish to earn more cash.

Computer Towers: These are becoming increasingly frequent in scrap yards as more and more individuals convert to laptops. Computer towers are reasonably simple to disassemble, but if you have a few and remove the components, you will lose money. By removing the Power Supplies, motherboard, RAM, hard drive, and low-grade boards, the value of the individual components is not significantly higher than if the entire machine were discarded. If you have ten or more computer towers, we recommend disassembling them.

Microwaves: If you want to recycle a microwave, you may remove the electric motor, copper wire, and low-quality circuit board from the inside. We recommend disassembling them as soon as you obtain them, as the components are similar to other materials you will be collecting. If you do not disassemble the microwave, you will often receive a steel price.

Dishwasher/Washer/Dryer — Large appliances are also fantastic finds when beginning to scrap, but it can be frustrating to know what to do with them. If you have more than five appliances, we recommend removing the sealed units, copper wiring, tubing, and electric motors from their backs. You may shred the things for a ferrous (iron/steel) fee and sort the components into their respective containers.

Refrigerators: Despite their size and weight, refrigerators do not usually fetch a high price at the scrap yard. Typically, they may be scrapped for their steel content. However, removing the internal components for extra cash may be wise if you have many of them.

First, you must ensure a certified HVAC professional remove the Freon from the refrigerator. Once removed, you may cut the refrigerator’s copper tubing and seal the unit.

Electric Motors: Once you’ve amassed a few of them and noticed copper wire peeking out from within, you may be tempted to disassemble them, but consider the time it will take. The copper wire inside is NOT brilliant naked copper or number one wire; instead, it is number two copper wire; thus, you will not receive the highest price. In addition, it might take a considerable amount of time to remove the steel casing and unwind the wire. Therefore, we recommend disassembling electric motors if they weigh more than fifty pounds.

Airtight Units: Similar to electric motors, sealed units are hefty and contain copper wire. However, they are housed in a robust steel exterior that makes them extremely difficult to open. Typically, a Sawzall is required to cut through the steel shell. Cutting through the steel shell may be time-consuming; therefore, we never recommend disassembling them. The profit turnaround is not worth the time, and Sawzall blades sacrificed.