Material guides
What buyers need to quote, how to photograph your material and what lowers its value. Specifications vary by buyer; these guides apply in any country.
Ferrous metal (steel, iron)
- Steel stamping offcuts and skeletonsClean new-production steel from stamping, blanking and cutting, often traded as busheling or clips, is among the most sought-after ferrous scrap because it is uniform and low in unwanted residual elements.
- Steel turnings and boringsChips and swarf from machining steel and cast iron. Saleable in volume, but the price depends heavily on oil content and on keeping alloys apart.
Non-ferrous metal (aluminium, copper, brass, stainless)
- Stainless steel solids and turningsStainless offcuts, sheet trim and machining chips. The price follows the grade and its alloy content, so sorting and identification matter more than with carbon steel.
- Aluminium extrusion and sheet offcutsClean, alloy-separated aluminium production scrap is valuable to remelters because it can go back into similar alloys with little treatment.
- Copper and brass production scrapCopper and copper-alloy offcuts, wire and turnings. One of the highest-value scrap streams, so buyers expect an accurate description and clean separation.
Plastic
- Polypropylene (PP) regrind, purgings and runnersPost-industrial PP from moulding and extrusion is widely recycled. Single-grade, single-colour, clean material sells best.
- HDPE regrind, trim and off-spec partsHigh-density polyethylene from blow moulding, injection moulding and pipe extrusion. Buyers need the processing grade as well as colour and contamination.
- LDPE and LLDPE film (stretch, shrink and bags)Post-industrial polyethylene film is a large recycling stream. Clear, unprinted, dry film in bales is worth the most.
- PET sheet and thermoform skeletonsSkeletal trim and off-spec sheet from PET thermoforming. Buyers care a lot about the PET type and anything layered or printed on it.
- Engineering plastics: ABS, PC, nylon (PA) and blendsProduction scrap from engineering resins can be valuable when the exact resin and additives are known. Mixed or unidentified material is hard to sell.