Copper is the highest value metal most sellers will handle, and the one where preparation makes the biggest difference. The gap between the top and bottom grade runs to several hundred pounds a tonne, and that gap is decided almost entirely by what is attached to the metal rather than by the metal itself.
The grades we buy
Bright copper wire (Barley)
Bare, unalloyed, uncoated wire no thinner than 16 SWG, free of tarnish beyond light surface oxidation. This is the highest paying grade because a refiner can take it with almost no processing. Stripped mains cable, clean winding wire and offcuts from electrical installation all qualify.
Copper No. 1 (Berry)
Clean tube, busbar, clippings and heavy gauge wire. Free of coatings, solder, paint and attachments. Plumbing tube usually falls here once the fittings have been removed. Slightly darker and heavier than Barley, and priced just below it.
Copper No. 2 (Birch and Cliff)
Soldered, painted or tinned copper, and anything needing work before it can be melted. A great deal of metal lands in this grade purely because nobody spent an hour separating it.
Insulated cable
Priced on recovered metal content rather than gross weight, because the plastic has to come off before the copper is worth anything. We granulate in house, so you are paid on what the cable actually yields rather than on an estimate. Recovery varies enormously: heavy mains cable can be well over half copper by weight, while thin data cable may be under a fifth.
Where it usually comes from
- Electrical contractors: offcuts, stripped-out installations, cable drum ends
- Plumbing and heating: tube, cylinders, immersion heaters
- Motor rewinds and electrical repair: windings, armatures, commutators
- Demolition and strip-out: busbar, distribution boards, tube runs
- Manufacturing: swarf, turnings, punchings and press offcuts
What reduces the price
Brass and steel fittings still attached to tube will pull the whole piece down a grade, so it is worth cutting them off. Paint, lacquer and heavy corrosion move copper into No. 2. Soldered joints do the same. Iron attachments, plastic clips and cable ties are deducted from the weight. Water sitting inside tube adds weight that comes off at the weighbridge, so drain lengths before they are loaded.
Preparing copper for collection
- Separate bright wire from everything else first. It is the single biggest gain.
- Cut brass and steel fittings off copper tube.
- Keep insulated cable in its own pile rather than mixed with bare metal.
- Do not attempt to burn insulation off. It is illegal, it damages the copper, and we will not buy burnt cable.
- Photograph each pile separately when you request a collection.
How we price it
Copper tracks the London Metal Exchange copper contract and moves daily. Any figure on our price board is indicative. Your firm price is set at the weighbridge once the load has been weighed and graded, with deductions itemised on the ticket. Grading happens in front of you, and where an alloy is in question we test it with handheld XRF rather than guessing.