Scrap Metal Grades for Recycling
Non-Ferrous Metal Recyclables
Non-ferrous metal is not magnetic and has little or no iron content. Items in the non-ferrous metal category can be separated into subcategories such as aluminum, lead, magnesium, nickel, mixed metals, red metals, zinc and even precious metals. The following is a sample of non-ferrous metal scrap grades as specified by the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) (2009):
Aluminum
- Clean aluminum lithograph sheets
- New, clean aluminum lithograph sheets
- Mixed low copper aluminum clippings and solids
- Clean mixed old alloy sheet aluminum
- New aluminum can stock
- Post-consumer aluminum can scrap
- Shredded aluminum used beverage can (UBC) scrap
- Densified aluminum used beverage can (UBC) scrap
- Baled aluminum used beverage can (UBC) scrap
- Briquetued aluminum used beverage can (UBC) scrap
- Mixed low copper aluminum clippings and solids
- Clean mixed alloy sheet aluminum
- New aluminum can stock
- Post-consumer aluminum can scrap
- Painted siding
- Aluminum copper radiators
- E.C. aluminum nodules
- All aluminum radiators from automobiles
- New pure aluminum wire and cable
- New mixed aluminum wire and cable
- Clean aluminum pistons
- Clean aluminum pistons with struts
- Irony aluminum pistons
- Old mixed aluminum wire and cable
- Old pure aluminum wire and cable
- New production aluminum extrusions
- Aluminum extrusions “10/10”
- Aluminum extrusion dealer grade
- Segregated aluminum borings and turnings
- Mixed aluminum borings and turnings
- Mixed aluminum castings
- Aircraft sheet aluminum
- New aluminum foil
- Post-consumer aluminum foil
- New coated aluminum foil
- Aluminum grindings
- Aluminum drosses, spatters, spillings, skimmings and sweepings
- Sweated aluminum
- Segregated new aluminum alloy clippings and solids
- Mixed new aluminum alloy clippings and solids
- Segregated new aluminum castings, forgings and extrusions
- Aluminum auto or truck wheels
- Aluminum auto castings
- Insulated aluminum wire scrap
- Aluminum airplane castings
- Floated fragmentizer aluminum scrap (from automobile shredders)
- Fragmentizer aluminum scrap (from automobile shredders)
- Burnt fragmentizer aluminum scrap (from automobile shredders)
Red Metals
- No. 1 copper wire
- No. 2 copper wire
- No. 1 heavy copper
- No. 2 copper
- No. 1 copper wire nodules
- No. 2 copper wire nodules
- Copper wire nodules
- Light copper
- Refinery brass
- Copper-bearing scrap
- Insulated copper wire scrap
- Composition or red brass
- High-grade, low-lead bronze/brass solids
- Genuine babbit-lined brass bushings
- High-lead bronze solids and borings
- Red brass composition turnings
- Machinery or hard brass solids
- Machinery or hard brass borings
- Unlined standard red car boxes (clean journals)
- Lined standard red car boxes (lined journals)
- Cocks and faucets
- Yellow brass scrap
- Yellow brass castings
- New brass clippings
- Brass shell cases without primers
- Brass shell cases with primers
- Brass small arms and rifle shells, clean fired
- Brass small arms and rifle shells, clean muffled (popped)
- Yellow brass primer
- Mixed new nickel silver clippings
- New nickel silver clippings and solids
- New segregated nickel silver clippings
- Old nickel silver
- Brass pipe
- Nickel silver castings
- Nickel silver turnings
- Yellow brass rod turnings
- New yellow brass rod ends
- Yellow brass turnings
- Muntz metal tubes
- Manganese bronze solids
- Mixed unsweated auto radiators
- Admiralty brass condenser tubes
- Aluminum brass condenser tubes
Lead
- Scrap lead—soft
- Mixed hard/soft scrap lead
- Lead battery plates
- Scrap drained/dry whole intact lead
- Battery lugs
- Lead covered copper cable
- Lead dross
- Scrap wet whole intact lead batteries
- Scrap industrial intact lead cells
- Scrap whole intact industrial lead batteries
- Wheel weights
Magnesium
- Magnesium clips
- Magnesium scrap
- Magnesium engraver plates
- Magnesium dockboards
- Magnesium turnings
Mixed Metals
- Mixed electric motors
- Shredded electric motors (also called shredder pickings or meatballs)
- High density
- Light density
- Shredded non-ferrous scrap (predominantly aluminum)
- Shredded non-ferrous sensor sorted scrap (predominantly stainless steel)
Nickel
- New nickel scrap
- Old nickel scrap
- New cupro nickel clips and solids
- Cupro nickel solids
- Cupro nickel spinnings, turnings, borings
- Soldered cupro nickel solids
- Miscellaneous nickel-copper and nickel-copper iron
- New r-monel clippings and solids
- New mixed monel solids and clippings
- Old monel sheet and solids
- K-monel solids
- Soldered monel sheet and solids
- Monel castings
- Monel turnings
- 200 series stainless steel scrap solids
- Stainless steel scrap
- Stainless steel turnings
- Edison batteries
Zinc
- Old zinc die cast scrap
- New zinc die cast scrap
- Zinc die cast automotive grilles
- New plated zinc die cast scrap
- Old scrap zinc
- New zinc clippings
- Crushed clean sorted fragmentizers die cast scrap, as produced from automobile fragmentizers
- Unsorted zinc die cast scrap
- Hot dip galvanizers slab zinc dross (batch process)
- Zinc die cast slabs or pigs
- Continuous line galvanizing slab zinc top dross
- Continuous line galvanizing slab zinc bottom dross
- Prime zinc die cast dross