How To Make The Most Amount Of Money From Your Scrap Metal

Money from scrap metal

Most people just bring a bucket of scrap to the scrap yard and earn the lowest possible amount for their scrap.  This is because people don’t know the tricks of earning top dollar for scrap. Earning that extra income from your scrap metal is entirely possible and because you are putting in the effort anyway, you might as well get paid the most amount of money that you can.  At Klein Recycling, we’ll not only purchase your scrap but also make sure you get top dollar.  

Here are a few ways to make sure you get the most amount of money from your scrap:

Separate Your Scrap

Unless your scrap metal is separated, scrap yards will count them as the lowest priced metal.  For example, if you have a bin filled with aluminum, copper, and brass, the scrapyard owner will give you aluminum prices when copper prices are higher.  Separating each metal will wield you more profit because you’ll get higher prices for the rarer metals.

To separate your scrap, set up different containers in your garage or where you scrap that are pre-labeled with the specific type of metal and throw your scrap into each different container. If you are unsure which metal is which, you can use this guide.  Having a system to separate your metals will consistently make you more money.

Scrap Non-Ferrous Metals

There is a difference between ferrous metals and non-ferrous metals in the scrapping world.  Ferrous metals contain iron and are much easier to get a hold of than non-ferrous metals. Most household appliances like microwaves, washing machines, a/c units, and old refrigerators are ferrous metals.  You can scrap these metals for quick cash.

Non-ferrous metals are harder to find but will reward you more money.  The main types of non-ferrous metals are aluminum, copper, and brass. Aluminum is the easiest to seek out of the non-ferrous metals and scraps for around $.30/pound.  You can find aluminum in house sidings and frames, gutters, car parts, car rims, and wires.

The next non-ferrous metal to scrap is brass.  Brass will gain you around $1.40/pound! Brass is most often found in pipe fittings, rods, castings, and even bullet casings.  Identifying brass and scraping it earns you more for your money than most other metals.  

The only other metal that can offer you a higher reward is copper at around a whopping $2/pound.  By focusing on copper for scraping, you can add a significant side hustle into your life. Copper tubing is often found in the structures of houses and buildings and plumbing work.  

In short, you can earn quick cash scraping old household goods and you can earn significant income scrapping non-ferrous metals like copper, brass, and aluminum.  Make sure to implement some of the above strategies to earn as much as you can from your time scraping.  

Finding Free Scrap Metal

One of the easiest ways to earn money scrapping is to scrap other peoples’ stuff.  By going on craigslist or the Facebook marketplace, you can find scrap metal by taking electronics, cars, and appliances off peoples’ hands.  You can simply search for scrap metal or free stuff on these sites and find metal to scrap. Of course, you will need a truck or a vehicle to pick up these items.  

Making the most of scrapping is simply about knowing what to do and where to look.  The easiest way to find extra scrap metal is in your house, friends’ houses, or online.  Many people throw out scrap metal at local dumpsters as well and some businesses leave their scrap metal out back for weeks at a time.  Often, construction workers have access to unused metal that they can scrap themselves.  It is entirely possible to earn a few hundred dollars per month scrapping and at Klein Recycling, we want to help you accomplish this goal by purchasing your scrap.  Give us a call today!

Understanding Twitch in the Metal Market in 2019

What is Twitch?

In order to understand the twitch metal market, we first have to define what exactly “twitch” is. When a vehicle is scrapped for metal, the combination of non-ferrous metals that have been separated from the shredded material (known as Zorba) and further processed into something called “light fraction” (achieved by separating the aluminum and magnesium contents from the copper, zinc, brass, bronze, and stainless steel) is called twitch. Twitch is an important part of the scrap metal industry because aluminum, one of the chief metals found in twitch, is such a versatile material with countless usages. It is easy and cost effective to work with, resists corrosion unless under extreme circumstances, conducts electricity, and is lightweight yet durable. Aluminum is so strong and versatile, it is used by the U.S. Army and even NASA.

Twitch is Good For the Environment and the Economy

Recycling aluminum is important because it costs less and is more environmentally friendly than mining for raw metals. Aluminum can actually be recycled an indefinite amount of times, so it’s extremely beneficial to keep it in circulation rather than trashing it. Additionally, aluminum makes cars, planes, and rockets lighter, causing them to require less energy when in use. This is called “lightweighting” and has the potential to significantly lower the carbon footprint of the transportation industry.

Not only is recycling aluminum better for the environment, but it also benefits the economy. The Aluminum Association reports that 3.3 employment opportunities are created in response to each aluminum industry job. The industry itself employs over 160,000 employees. It is also cost-effective to recycle aluminum. A study done by the Center for Resource Recovery and Recycling at the Metal Processing Institute found that the recycling rate of automotive aluminum is 91%, meaning that only a small percentage of aluminum is lost in the recycling process.

Pricing Pressure in the Twitch Metal Market

As reported by the American Metal Market magazine, international demand for twitch is growing, but suppliers are trying to raise prices. Buyers have been tempted by the lower prices of non-twitch shredded metal, putting pressure on the twitch industry to be more competitive. The price difference between twitch and other secondary aluminum alloys is currently 31 cents per pound. Additionally, some auto shredder operators have seen as much as a 20% drop in inbound materials, which could negatively impact the success of the twitch metal market if the pattern continues or becomes more widespread. Consumers are pushing for a price reduction and negotiations are ongoing.


The benefits of recycling aluminum are significant. Bring your scrap metal to Klein’s Recycling to contribute to the health of the planet and the creation of jobs in the recycling industry.

Metal Money 101: The End-of-2018 United States Metals Market Explained

Why Do We Care About the Metals Market?

The metals market in the United States affects the recycling industry and the price of metals in the rest of the world. Earlier in 2018, there was a lot of talk about President Trump’s metal tariffs and how they would affect the metal market as a whole. In order to better understand the metals market, it’s helpful to know the different kinds of metals and what happened when President Trump actually did impose the metals tariff.

Ferrous vs. Non-ferrous Metal

There are two main categories of metal–ferrous and non-ferrous. Ferrous metals have iron in them, which means they are magnetic and susceptible to rust. Most scrap metal, such as car parts, falls under the category of ferrous metals. Non-ferrous metals don’t contain iron and don’t rust. Examples of non-ferrous metals include aluminum, lead, zinc, copper, and stainless steel.

Metals Tariff

Just before the summer of 2018, President Trump placed a tax, or a tariff, on metals imported into the United States from other countries–specifically a 10% tax on aluminum and a 25% tax on steel. Such a tariff discourages the use of foreign metals and encourages local metal production. Many industries, such as construction, energy production (especially solar and wind), and car production, heavily rely on the use of metals; if imported metals become harder to come by, metal recycling becomes even more important in order to keep American metal production growing to sufficiently supply metals to all the industries that depend on them.

The Price of Metal

Unsurprisingly, metal prices in the United States have increased since the tariffs took effect. Industries using imported metal now need to compensate for the tariff. Considering the majority of metal in our country was imported, domestically-produced metal is now more in demand. The higher metal prices are good for the U.S. metal industry in the short term, but it remains to be seen how the metals market will be affected as time goes on.

In the rest of the world, the prices of non-ferrous metals are dropping and the market seems to be suffering somewhat, especially in the area of copper and nickel. Even in the normally steady ferrous metals market, stainless steel prices have lowered but they still remain relatively stable.

Recycling Remains Important

More than ever, recycling scrap metal is crucial to keeping the United States metal industry well-supplied and booming. It is now more costly to import metal, and that cost trickles down to the products and services consumers pay for. Recycling metal is also more environmentally friendly than mining it. At Klein’s Recycling, we will recycle your scrap metal to help keep costs stable and the environment clean!