Table of Contents
Part I: The Struggle – The Weight of Ignorance
Section 1: The Haul
The weight of unemployment was a physical thing, a pressure in the chest that made the mid-summer air feel thick and hard to breathe.
For three months, my world had been a cycle of job applications and silent inboxes.
My severance was dwindling, and the quiet hum of the refrigerator felt like a countdown timer.
Then, opportunity appeared, not in an email, but on a curb.
It was city-wide cleanup week, a suburban ritual where unwanted possessions migrated from garages to lawns, awaiting their final journey.
On my street, it was a graveyard of consumerism past.
And there, glinting in the morning sun, was my salvation: a trio of window air conditioning units and an old, hulking refrigerator, abandoned like monuments to a cooler, more prosperous time.
I saw them not as junk, but as a straightforward windfall.
I’d read online that you could sell scrap metal for cash.
It seemed so simple, so tangible.
Find junk, sell junk, get money.
In a world of abstract digital labor and ephemeral services, the idea of turning a physical object into currency was primal and deeply appealing.1
This was the allure of the tangible asset.
Unlike stocks or cryptocurrencies, a pile of metal feels real, its value seemingly locked within its very substance.
This perception creates a deceptive sense of simplicity, a belief that the transaction is as direct as trading a gold coin for a loaf of bread.
My optimism was built on this fallacy—that the value was in the object itself, not in the materials it contained and the knowledge required to extract them.
With the help of a neighbor’s dolly, I wrestled the appliances into the bed of my aging pickup truck.
The air conditioners were heavy, their plastic casings yellowed and brittle.
The refrigerator was a behemoth.
Inside each, I could see the prize: the radiator-like component, a dense lattice of thin aluminum fins with copper tubes snaking through them.3
This, I knew from a cursory internet search, was the aluminum copper coil, or ACR.
It was the heart of the machine, the part that held the value.
These coils are the primary find in air-conditioning units and refrigeration systems, making discarded household appliances a common entry point for amateur scrappers like myself.4
My plan was rudimentary: haul the units to the nearest scrap yard and collect my earnings.
I estimated the total weight, did some rough math based on a price I’d seen online, and imagined a crisp stack of bills that would ease the pressure in my chest, at least for a week or two.
The weight in the truck bed felt like a promise.
Section 2: The First Crossing
The scrap yard was less a place of business and more a separate, industrial ecosystem operating by its own laws of physics and commerce.
The air tasted of rust and diesel fumes.
The ground was a gravelly moonscape stained with oil.
Mountains of twisted metal—carcasses of cars, skeletons of buildings, entrails of industry—loomed on all sides, presided over by colossal cranes fitted with powerful magnets that moved with a slow, deliberate menace.7
The noise was a constant, grinding symphony of metal on metal, the screech of shearing machines, and the roar of heavy equipment.
It was intimidating, a world away from the carpeted silence of my former office.8
I followed the hand-painted signs to a large platform scale, where a man in a glass booth, looking bored and unimpressed, waved me forward.
The truck groaned as I pulled onto the scale.
He scribbled on a ticket and pointed toward a specific mountain of metal.
“Over there,” he grunted, his voice tinny through an old speaker.
“With the other appliances.”
After unloading the units, a process that left me sweating and covered in grime, I drove back over the scale to determine the weight of my haul.
Then, I walked to the pay window, ticket in hand, a nervous anticipation fluttering in my stomach.
The experience was a common one for novices, a rite of passage I was about to fail spectacularly.8
The woman behind the thick plexiglass took my ticket, her fingers flying across a calculator.
She slid a small metal tray toward me containing a few worn bills and some change.
I stared at it, confused.
It was less than a quarter of what I had expected.
“There must be a mistake,” I said, my voice sounding small.
She sighed, a practiced, weary sound.
“No mistake.
You brought in irony ACRs.
You get paid the irony price.”
“Irony?” I asked.
“What does that mean?”
“It means they got steel on ’em,” she said, tapping a long fingernail on the glass.
“The brackets on the side.
That makes ’em ‘dirty.’ We gotta cut that steel off before we can process ’em.
Takes labor.
You want the clean price, you bring ’em in clean”.3
That was my first lesson in the brutal lexicon of scrap.
The metal fins of the ACRs had steel brackets along their sides.
Because I hadn’t removed them, my entire load was downgraded.3
The price difference was staggering.
At the time, “Clean Aluminum/Copper AC Coils (free of steel)” were fetching around $1.75 per pound at some yards.10
But “Irony Aluminum/Copper AC Coils (just steel edges)” were priced significantly lower, perhaps $1.60 per pound, and at other yards, the gap was even wider, with clean coils at $1.80 and dirty ones at a mere $1.20 per pound.10
My haul, which I had viewed as a single valuable entity, was contaminated in the eyes of the yard.
The justification was the labor required to prepare the material for the next stage of recycling, a cost they passed directly to me in the form of a lower payout.12
I took the money, my face burning with a mixture of anger and humiliation.
As I walked back to my empty truck, a realization began to dawn.
The scrap yard’s business model wasn’t just about aggregating and reselling metal.
It was about arbitraging a knowledge gap.
The price difference between “clean” and “dirty” wasn’t merely a fair discount to cover a few minutes of an employee’s time with a cutting tool.
It was a significant profit margin built directly upon the seller’s ignorance.
The yard profits not just from the commodity itself, but from performing the service of “upgrading” it from a lower to a higher grade—a service the uninformed seller unknowingly pays for through a drastically reduced price.
I hadn’t just sold them metal; I had paid them for my own education, and the tuition was steep.
Section 3: The Market’s Shadow
Dejected, I drove home with the paltry sum in my pocket, the weight in my chest now heavier than before.
The illusion of a simple transaction had been shattered.
I had entered a complex system without a map, and the system had unceremoniously fleeced me.
My frustration drove me to research.
I wanted to understand the forces that had turned my promising haul into a pittance.
I started by looking at the price boards posted on various scrap yard websites.
They were a confusing jumble of terms and numbers: “#1 Tubing,” “#2 Tubing,” “Bare Bright Wire,” “Romex,” “Sheet Aluminum,” “Light Iron,” “Auto Cast”.10
Each category had a different price, and the prices seemed to change with unnerving frequency.
I called a few other yards, hoping to get a clearer picture.
The responses were cagey, noncommittal.
“Prices can change,” one guy told me.
“Gotta bring it in”.13
It felt like trying to nail Jell-O to a wall.
I was beginning to understand the myriad challenges that face anyone trying to sell scrap.
The market was incredibly volatile, with prices for the base metals, copper and aluminum, fluctuating daily based on global trends I couldn’t begin to comprehend.14
I learned that a yard’s offered price isn’t a direct reflection of the metal’s value; it’s that value minus the yard’s own operational costs—energy to run the machines, fuel for the trucks, labor for the workers, and, of course, their own profit margin.14
Adding another layer of complexity was seasonality.
I read forum posts and blogs explaining that scrap prices tend to be higher in the spring and summer.
This is because the construction industry, a massive consumer of metals, ramps up activity in the warmer months, increasing demand.16
In the winter, construction slows, demand falls, and prices often follow suit.
Seasoned scrappers, I learned, would sometimes hoard their inventory during the cold months and sell strategically when the market heated up.19
This flood of new information was overwhelming.
I felt powerless, a tiny boat tossed on a vast, turbulent ocean.
The transaction at the yard had felt personal, a one-on-one negotiation I had lost.
But the truth was far more humbling.
Selling scrap appears to be a simple cash transaction, but it is, in fact, an entry point into one of the world’s most complex and volatile commodity markets.
The local yard, with its muddy grounds and gruff employees, is merely the retail storefront for a massive, interconnected global machine.
The price they offer is influenced by supply and demand in China, manufacturing output in Europe, trade tariffs set in Washington d+.C., and the price of virgin materials mined from the earth on the other side of the planet.16
My frustration stemmed from this profound disconnect.
I thought I was in a simple negotiation with one person over a physical object, but I was unknowingly negotiating with the entire global economy.
Part II: The Epiphany – From Scavenger to Analyst
Section 4: The Mentor and the Magnet
I was ready to abandon the whole enterprise, to chalk it up as another failed attempt to escape the gravity of my unemployment.
I was nursing a bitter coffee in a small, greasy-spoon diner near the industrial park, staring out the window at the endless parade of trucks, when an older man sat down in the booth opposite me.
He was wiry, with hands that looked like they were carved from old leather, and his work clothes were permanently stained with a fine, reddish dust.
“Tough day at the scales?” he asked, his voice raspy.
He must have seen the look on my face.
I mumbled something about being cheated.
He let out a short, sharp laugh that was more of a bark.
“You didn’t get cheated, son.
You got educated.
There’s a difference.”
He introduced himself as Frank, a “lifer” in the scrap business.
He’d been hauling metal since before I was born.
I told him my story, expecting sympathy.
Instead, he just shook his head and reached into his pocket, pulling out a small, powerful magnet no bigger than a coin.
He slid it across the table.
“This,” he said, tapping the magnet, “is the first and most important tool in this business.
It’s the key to the whole damn kingdom.”
He explained the first, most fundamental rule of scrapping, a rule so basic I had completely missed it: the separation of ferrous and non-ferrous metals.15
“Ferrous metals have iron in them,” he explained.
“Iron, steel.
The magnet sticks to ’em.
They’re heavy, they’re everywhere, and they’re cheap”.1
He paused.
“Non-ferrous metals—copper, aluminum, brass, stainless steel—they don’t have iron.
The magnet won’t stick.
And that’s where the money Is. Always”.1
Frank then delivered the final, crucial piece of the puzzle, the “why” behind my miserable payout.
“When you bring in a mixed load,” he said, leaning forward, “a pile of stuff where you got steel touching aluminum touching copper, the yard is gonna pay you for the whole thing based on the price of the cheapest metal in the pile.
And that’s always gonna be steel”.7
The simple magnet he’d placed on the table was no longer just a piece of metal; it was a lens, a tool that brought the chaotic world of scrap into sharp, binary focus.
It was a symbol of newfound clarity.
Section 5: The Anatomy of Value
Frank’s lesson was a spark in the darkness.
I went back to my garage, the magnet in my hand, and looked at the remaining air conditioner with new eyes.
I no longer saw a single, useless appliance.
I saw a puzzle, a collection of distinct components waiting to be liberated.
I saw a problem I could solve.
Armed with a reciprocating saw, a pair of tin snips, and a new sense of purpose, I began the meticulous process of deconstruction.
It was tedious, messy work.
I cut through the plastic casing, then carefully sliced the steel brackets from the sides of the aluminum copper coil.
With the steel gone, the coil was now officially “clean”.3
I then turned my attention to the insulated copper wires connected to the fan motor and compressor.
I stripped the plastic sheathing from a small section, revealing the gleaming, reddish metal beneath.
For the first time since this misadventure began, I felt a sense of control.
I wasn’t just hauling junk; I was processing material.
I was adding value through labor and knowledge.
This dissection was a practical education in scrap grading.
My single appliance was transforming into several distinct piles, each with its own identity and value in the scrap ecosystem.
I had a pile of “Light Iron” from the steel brackets and casing, a category that includes appliances and other thin steel materials.12
I had a pile of insulated copper wire.
And I had the main prize: the clean ACR.
It was at this point, researching the value of my newly sorted piles, that I stumbled upon a crucial, non-obvious nuance of the scrap yard business model.
My initial thought, and Frank’s lesson, suggested that maximum value came from maximum separation.
I assumed that if I took the clean ACR and further separated the copper tubes from the aluminum fins, I would make even more money.
I would have a pile of “#2 Copper Tubing” (copper pipe that might have some solder or corrosion) and a pile of “Sheet Aluminum”.10
I even drew up a small table to compare the potential payouts, using the prices from a local yard’s website.
Table 1: The Value of Labor and Knowledge
A hypothetical analysis of a 100 lb load of AC coils with steel attachments, based on sample market prices.
| Scenario | Description | Calculation | Estimated Payout | |
| 1. Unprocessed | Sold as “Dirty” or “Irony” ACR with steel attached. | 100 lbs @ $1.20/lb 11 | $120.00 | |
| 2. Partially Processed | Steel removed. Sold as “Clean” ACR. Assumes 10 lbs of steel removed. | 90 lbs @ $1.80/lb 11 | $162.00 | |
| 3. Fully Separated | Clean ACR further separated into pure copper and aluminum. Assumes 90 lbs of clean coil is 25% copper and 75% aluminum by weight. | 22.5 lbs #2 Copper @ $3.75/lb 11 | 67.5 lbs Sheet Aluminum @ $0.55/lb 11 | $84.38 $37.13 Total: $121.51 |
The result of my calculation was baffling.
Fully separating the copper and aluminum, according to the yard’s own price sheet, would yield less money than selling the coil as “Clean ACR.” This seemed to defy logic.
Why would less work result in a higher payout?
The answer revealed a deeper layer of the industry.
Scrap yards offer a specific, often favorable, price for “Clean ACR” as a distinct commodity category.
They do this because they can collect these coils in massive quantities, bale them into dense cubes, and sell them directly to specialized industrial recyclers.
These large-scale processors have highly efficient, automated machinery—shredders and separators—that can strip the copper from the aluminum far more cheaply and quickly than any individual could by hand.25
The yard’s “Clean ACR” price is a blended rate calculated to be profitable within this high-volume, efficient supply chain.
In contrast, the price they offer an individual like me for a small, loose pile of sheet aluminum is based on a completely different, lower-volume, and less efficient pipeline.
That aluminum might get mixed with other low-grade aluminum scrap and take a much longer, more costly route to being recycled.
This was the true epiphany.
The goal wasn’t simply to “separate everything.” The goal was to understand the scrap yard’s business model and process my material to fit into their most profitable category for me.
For aluminum copper coils sold at a local yard, that category was “Clean ACR.” The most valuable skill was not just deconstruction, but knowing when to stop.
I had moved from being a simple scavenger to an analyst, dissecting not just the metal, but the very economics of the system I was operating in.
Section 6: The Global Ledger
My newfound curiosity became an obsession.
I was no longer content just to know how to scrap; I needed to understand why prices were what they were.
My research led me from local scrap yard forums to the financial news, from practical YouTube tutorials to the official websites of global commodity exchanges.
I discovered the London Metal Exchange (LME) and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the epicenters of global metals trading.27
Suddenly, the cryptic price on my local yard’s board began to make sense.
It wasn’t an arbitrary number plucked from the air.
It was a distant, distorted echo of trades happening in real-time in London and New York.
I started to think of it like a local farmer’s market.
The price a farmer charges for a bushel of corn at their roadside stand is inevitably influenced by the global price of corn futures traded on an exchange like the CME Group.27
The farmer has local costs—land, fuel, labor—and adds a margin for profit, but the baseline is set by the massive, impersonal forces of the global market.
The scrap industry works the same Way. The LME, through a process of open-outcry and electronic trading, is central to “price discovery”—the mechanism by which the global benchmark prices for metals like copper and aluminum are established.29
These LME Official Prices are used as the reference for physical contracts all over the world.30
My local scrap yard owner watches these LME prices like a hawk.
He takes the LME price for copper, subtracts his operational costs, his transportation fees, his desired profit margin, and the risk of price volatility, and arrives at the price he posts on his board.
The difference between the LME price and the yard’s price is known as the “spread” or “discount”.17
As I delved deeper, I uncovered a story that was unfolding in the market right now.
I read an article detailing a major shift in the U.S. copper scrap market.
For years, U.S. prices were benchmarked against the New York-based COMEX.
But recently, due to extreme price volatility on the COMEX and the imposition of new international trade tariffs, many major U.S. mills and exporters were abandoning COMEX and shifting to the LME as their pricing benchmark.31
The global market, they argued, was tethered to the LME, and aligning with it provided more stability and easier international trade.31
Reading this, it all clicked into place.
My tiny, one-man operation in a dusty garage was a leaf on a colossal, global tree, and the winds buffeting that tree—geopolitical tensions, tariff wars, speculation on Wall Street—were the same winds that determined whether I made a profit or a loss.
This realization fundamentally changed my perspective.
An informed scrapper is not just a junk hauler.
They are, in essence, a micro-commodities trader operating in the physical spot market.
Their profit is the spread between their acquisition cost (which, for found metal, is primarily their own labor) and the sale price.
That sale price is a direct derivative of the global futures market.
Every decision—when to sell, what grade to prepare the material to, whether to hold inventory or sell immediately—is a market-timing and arbitrage decision.
This understanding elevated the entire profession.
It wasn’t about luck or brute force.
It was about strategy, analysis, and navigating a complex financial ecosystem.
It was a game I was finally beginning to understand how to play.
Part III: The Solution – The Art of the Deal
Section 7: The Return to the Scales
Weeks later, I drove through the gates of the same scrap yard.
The air still tasted of rust, the mountains of metal still loomed, but I was no longer an intimidated outsider.
I was a different person, armed with knowledge and a plan.
The bed of my truck was loaded not with whole, jumbled appliances, but with neatly processed and sorted materials.
There was a pile of clean ACRs, the steel brackets meticulously removed.
There was a separate container of insulated copper wire and another of light iron.
I had done my homework.
I had tracked the LME copper and aluminum prices for two weeks, waiting for a slight uptick.16
I had chosen to sell on a weekday in mid-summer, knowing that the peak of construction season meant demand was high.19
I had also accumulated a much larger load, combining my initial haul with materials from two other defunct air conditioners I had sourced from a local contractor I’d connected with.
I knew that larger volumes often commanded better per-pound rates and, more importantly, provided negotiating leverage.22
I pulled onto the scale, got my weight ticket, and unloaded my sorted materials into their designated areas.
When I walked to the pay window, I didn’t approach with the defensive crouch of a victim.
I stood tall and engaged the yard manager, the same man who had dismissed me weeks ago, with quiet confidence.
“Good morning,” I said, sliding the ticket through the slot.
“I’ve got about 250 pounds of clean ACRs, 30 pounds of #1 insulated wire, and about 50 pounds of light iron.”
I used the correct terminology, signaling that I understood the business.23
He looked at me, a flicker of recognition in his eyes, and then at the ticket.
He did his calculations.
The price he offered was fair, based directly on the day’s board price.
It was already four times what I had made on my first trip.
But I wasn’t done.
“That’s a fair starting point,” I said calmly.
“I’ve been watching the LME copper futures, and they’ve been trending up all week.
Given the volume and that it’s all clean and sorted, can you do a little better on the ACRs?”
This was not an aggressive demand, but a professional negotiation between two businesspeople.15
I wasn’t just asking for more money; I was giving him a business reason to give it to me.
I was a reliable supplier bringing him a significant quantity of high-quality, low-hassle material that he could turn around for a quick profit.
Building a relationship with the yard, treating them as a business partner, is critical.15
He looked at me for a long moment, then at his screen.
He tapped a few keys.
“I can give you another nickel a pound on the coils,” he said.
“You keep bringing me clean loads like this, we can talk.”
It was a small victory in absolute terms, but it felt monumental.
I had changed the dynamic.
I had not just accepted a price; I had helped to set it.
I left the yard that day with a substantial amount of cash and, more importantly, a sense of mastery.
The weight in my chest was gone, replaced by the satisfying heft of earned money and the even more satisfying lightness of empowerment.
Section 8: The Business of Alchemy
That day was the beginning.
My perspective had shifted permanently from that of a scavenger to that of a business owner.
The initial haul, born of desperation, became the seed capital for a small but growing enterprise.
I was no longer just picking up random junk; I was building a supply chain.
I printed up some simple business cards and began visiting local HVAC installers, plumbers, and small construction crews.
I offered them a simple, valuable service: I would haul away their old units and scrap metal for free, saving them time and disposal fees.
For them, it was a nuisance; for me, it was a steady, predictable source of high-quality material.6
I quickly learned that industries like construction, manufacturing, and automotive are the biggest generators—and consumers—of scrap metal, and tapping into that flow was the key to scaling up.19
I rented a small, fenced-in corner of an industrial lot, my own modest scrap yard where I could safely store and process materials.6
My garage became a workshop.
I invested in better tools: a portable band saw for precise cuts, a high-quality wire stripper that saved hours of tedious work, and durable, labeled containers for every grade of metal.
I used a route optimization app on my phone to plan my pickup runs, ensuring I was burning the least amount of fuel and time for the maximum amount of material.6
My entire operation was now guided by a strategic framework, a mental ledger that translated my physical labor into maximum financial return.
This framework, the true alchemy of the business, was built on a series of deliberate, informed actions.
Table 2: The Professional Scrapper’s Strategic Matrix
| Strategy | Required Action | Tools & Knowledge | Impact on Profitability |
| Sorting & Grading | Immediately separate all metals into distinct categories upon acquisition. | A strong magnet is essential. Knowledge of metal types (copper, aluminum, brass, steel) and their visual/physical properties.7 | Critical. Prevents the entire load from being devalued to the price of the cheapest component (usually steel). Unlocks the specific, higher value of each non-ferrous metal.22 |
| Cleaning & Preparation | Meticulously remove all contaminants: steel brackets, plastic casings, rubber gaskets, insulation, paint, and excessive dirt or oil. | Reciprocating saw, tin snips, wire strippers, grinders, basic hand tools. | High. Upgrades material from “dirty” or “irony” grades to “clean” or “#1” grades, which can more than double the per-pound price for some materials.22 |
| Market Timing | Monitor commodity market trends and plan sales accordingly. | Access to LME/COMEX price charts (available on many financial news sites), industry news, and scrap price apps like iScrapApp.13 | Moderate to High. Allows for capitalizing on cyclical price peaks. Selling during summer construction booms or when global demand is high can yield 10-20% more than selling during winter lulls.20 |
| Bulk Accumulation | Instead of making many small trips, store processed material and sell in larger, consolidated loads (e.g., 500+ lbs for non-ferrous). | Secure storage space (yard, garage), vehicle with sufficient hauling capacity. | Moderate. Many yards offer volume premiums for larger quantities. It also significantly increases negotiation leverage and reduces transaction time and fuel costs.22 |
| Informed Negotiation | Before selling, call multiple yards for quotes. Arrive knowing your material’s weight and grade, and have a target price based on current market data. | Smartphone, scale, understanding of the LME-to-yard price spread. Professional communication skills.15 | Moderate. Fosters competition between yards. Builds a reputation as a serious, knowledgeable seller, leading to better rates and long-term partnerships.35 |
| Strategic Sourcing | Move beyond scavenging. Establish formal or informal agreements with businesses that consistently generate scrap (e.g., contractors, mechanics, manufacturers). | Business development, networking, reliability, and professionalism. | Transformative. Creates a consistent, high-quality, and predictable supply chain. This is the difference between a hobby and a sustainable business.6 |
This matrix became my business plan.
It codified my journey from struggle to solution, transforming the chaotic, unpredictable world of scrap into a series of manageable, profitable steps.
I was no longer just a guy with a truck; I was the manager of a micro-logistics and materials processing operation.
Section 9: The Circular Economy
One evening, standing in my small yard under the glow of work lights, I watched a forklift load a tightly compressed bale of clean aluminum copper coils onto a flatbed truck.
The bale, containing the processed remains of nearly a hundred air conditioners, gleamed like a strange, industrial jewel.
It was heading to a large regional smelter, where it would be melted down, the metals separated and purified, and eventually reborn as new products.25
In that moment, I understood the final, most profound dimension of my work.
I wasn’t just making a living; I was a vital first link in a vast, global supply chain known as the circular economy.14
The metals I was rescuing from the landfill were infinitely recyclable.
Unlike many materials, aluminum and copper can be melted down and re-formed into high-quality metal over and over again, with virtually no loss of their inherent properties.39
This process has enormous environmental benefits.
Recycling aluminum, for instance, requires up to 95% less energy than producing it from virgin bauxite ore through the energy-intensive Bayer and Hall-Héroult processes.1
Every ton of copper recycled saves energy, reduces CO2 emissions, and prevents the environmental destruction caused by new mining operations.1
By diverting these appliances from the landfill, where they would slowly leach toxic materials into the soil and water for centuries, I was contributing to a more sustainable and resource-efficient world.2
My small business was, in its own way, a force for conservation.
As the flatbed truck pulled away, I saw a young man pull up to the gate of the main scrap yard next door.
He had a look I recognized all too well: a mixture of hope, confusion, and frustration.
His pickup was filled with a jumble of old appliances, unprocessed and unsorted.
He was about to get his first, harsh lesson from the scales.
I watched him for a moment, then walked over.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the small, powerful magnet Frank had given me, now worn smooth with use.
“Tough day at the scales?” I asked with a small smile.
“Or just getting started?”
I placed the magnet in his hand.
The cycle of knowledge, like the cycle of the metal itself, was ready to begin again.
Works cited
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- First Timer’s Guide: Recycling at a Scrap Yard – Cohen, accessed on July 21, 2025, https://www.cohenusa.com/blog/first-timers-guide-recycling-scrap/
- forscrap.com, accessed on July 21, 2025, https://forscrap.com/copper-scrap/aluminum-copper-coil#:~:text=In%20air%2Dconditioning%20units%20or,it%20is%20worth%20more%20money.
- Aluminum Copper Coil Clean and Dirty | Greener Recycling, accessed on July 21, 2025, https://forscrap.com/copper-scrap/aluminum-copper-coil
- myscrapstop.com, accessed on July 21, 2025, https://myscrapstop.com/scrap-price/aluminum-copper-coils#:~:text=Air%20conditioners%20are%20a%20common,can%20be%20turned%20into%20money.
- 7 to Start a Scrap Metal Business in 2025, accessed on July 21, 2025, https://www.upperinc.com/blog/how-to-start-a-scrap-metal-business/
- Scrap Metal Recycling 101 [A Complete Metal Scrapper’s Guide], accessed on July 21, 2025, https://verichek.net/scrap-metal-recycling.html
- Information about picking up and selling scrap iron/metal to a recycling place for a profit., accessed on July 21, 2025, https://www.reddit.com/r/Flipping/comments/6emrx8/information_about_picking_up_and_selling_scrap/
- Do you have tips for selling your scrap? | Friendly Metal Detecting …, accessed on July 21, 2025, https://metaldetectingforum.com/index.php?threads/do-you-have-tips-for-selling-your-scrap.167550/
- Pricing for Scrap Metal, Copper, and More | Reliable Recycling Center, accessed on July 21, 2025, https://www.reliablerecyclingcenter.com/pricing/
- Current Scrap Metal Prices – Rockaway Recycling, accessed on July 21, 2025, https://rockawayrecycling.com/scrap-metal-prices/
- Classifications of different scrap metal – Steemit, accessed on July 21, 2025, https://steemit.com/money/@upscaleautoparts/classifications-of-different-scrap-metal
- How to Find Scrap Metal Prices Near You – YouTube, accessed on July 21, 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mTPfqEskq4
- What Are the Biggest Challenges Facing Scrap Metal Recyclers …, accessed on July 21, 2025, https://globalardour.co.uk/what-are-the-biggest-challenges-facing-scrap-metal-recyclers/
- How to Get the Best Deal at a Scrap Yard | Langley Recycling, accessed on July 21, 2025, https://langleyrecyclingkc.com/how-to-get-the-best-deal-at-a-scrap-yard/
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