The complete guide to sorting your scrap metal

Monday, 6 July 2015

There are many reasons to start recycling your scrap metal. It’s extremely good for the environment, and it can be a great way to earn a bit of extra money from items that would simply lie around your house otherwise.

Of course, this also means having to sort everything out. Here’s a guide on how to do so.

Part one – Get the bins and mark them out

The first thing you’ll need to do is set up a number of separate bins, and to label them as such:

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Aluminium
Iron
Stainless steel
Normal steel
Copper
Brass

These can then be used to help you separate your metal as you go, rather than having to pick through a big pile at the end of the month.

Part two – Dividing up ferrous and non-ferrous metals

You’ll then need to divide up ferrous (magnetic) and non-ferrous (non-magnetic) metals.

Iron and steel are two good examples of ferrous metals, with aluminium, copper and brass non-ferrous.

It’s worth noting that iron and steel are often sold together and are sometimes classed as the same when you bring them to the recycling centre.

Part Three – splitting up the non-ferrous metals

Once you’ve got everything into smaller groups, you can start sorting them into the individual groups.

Copper will typically be coloured accordingly, and is usually found within things like cables, wire and piping, it’ll often be used in plumbing. Look out for red brass, which is a different shade of regular copper and isn’t pure – this is often found in plumbing.

Yellow coloured metals are usually brass, unless you have something you know to be gold. Brass is still the yellower of the two.

Aluminium is nearly always a silver colour, and is typically much lighter than the other metals.

Part Four – Splitting up the ferrous metals

Next, you’ll need to split up the ferrous metals. Eventually, you’ll get to the stage where you can do parts three and four at once, but it’s worth splitting them up initially, just until you know what you’re looking for.

Steel is very solid, and will often be slightly rusty if it’s been weathered.
Lead is exceptionally heavy for its size, so you’ll usually be able to recognise it.
Tin is usually bendable, and will crack whilst being bent.
Stainless steel is completely rust proof, and is typically heavy.

Sort by cleanliness

It’s a fact that clean metal is simply worth more than dirty metals, so sort yours according to whether or not they have any rust, dirt, mud and other contaminates. Typically, you should look to completely separate out the most expensive metals such as copper.

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