Know your metal, know your money.

Read it: bright salmon-red, no coating, bends without breaking. Heavy for its size.

Lives in stripped wire, new plumbing pipe, coil offcuts.

Read it: brown or green tarnish, solder or fittings attached, still ≥94% copper.

Lives in old plumbing, water heaters, AC coils.

Read it: copper under a plastic jacket. The thicker the cable, the richer the ratio.

Lives in construction sites, rewiring jobs, decommissions.

Read it: saturated yellow-gold, heavy, non-magnetic. Rings like a bell when struck.

Lives in faucets, valves, fittings, shell casings.

Read it: light, silver-grey, non-magnetic, drawn into clean consistent profiles.

Lives in window frames, doors, blinds, vehicle trim and aluminium profiles of every size.

Read it: rough, grainy, moulded shapes. Lighter than the hand expects. The yard name is Trump.

Lives in engine parts, gearboxes, cookware and mixed aluminium castings.

Read it: light honeycomb cores, often with plastic tanks still on. Clean cores pay more than irony ones.

Lives in cars, AC condensers and cooling units. The yard name is Tense.

Read it: bright, rust-free, weakly magnetic at most, smooth to the touch.

Lives in kitchens, sinks, industrial piping, tanks, sheets, fittings and shredded stainless.

Read it: bluish grey; galvanized coatings look dusty; die-cast comes in regular shapes.

Lives in die-cast parts, fittings, galvanized steel.

Read it: grey to rusty, strongly magnetic. HMS 1 runs ≥ 6 mm thick.

Lives in structural steel, tanks, heavy equipment and empty steel drums.

Read it: boards, chips, drives, servers. Value swings hard on what is inside.

Lives in IT refresh cycles, offices, data rooms.

Read it: a bit of everything from a clean-out. We sort it, then pay on the ratio.

Lives in demolitions, renovations, shop clean-outs.

Read it: PET is glassy and clear, HDPE waxy and milky, PP stiff and light. Clean beats mixed, every time.

Lives in production offcuts, purgings, crates, drums and film.

Read it: intact timber pallets from warehouses and sites. Broken mixed wood is a different stream.

Lives in factories, stores and construction yards. Bought by arrangement, same as clean plastic.

Read it: heavy sealed steel shells with copper working inside. Sold whole, by weight.

Lives in AC units, fridges, chillers and HVAC scrap.

Read it: a steel body wound with copper. The bigger and heavier, the better it pays.

Lives in pumps, fans, machinery and workshop equipment.