When to Separate Metals Before Selling – and When It's Not Worth It
Published 24 March 2026
Separating your scrap before selling nearly always pays. But for some materials, the effort is not worth the premium. Here is how to decide.
One of the most consistent pieces of advice from experienced scrap sellers is to separate your metals before arriving at the yard. But not every separation task is worth the time and effort.
The Core Rule: Mixed Loads Are Priced at the Lowest Grade
If you present a bin bag containing copper pipe, steel off-cuts, and aluminium window sections, the yard will assess the whole lot at steel prices — the lowest-value material present. Separating at home prevents this.
Separations That Always Pay
**Ferrous vs Non-Ferrous**: This is the most important separation. Use a magnet before loading the van.
**Copper from Aluminium from Brass**: These three non-ferrous metals price very differently — copper at £4–5/kg, aluminium at £0.84–1.26/kg, brass at £2.94–3.57/kg. Mix them and you lose significantly on higher-value materials.
**Lead**: Lead must always be kept separate. Even a small amount in an aluminium load contaminates the whole batch.
Separations That Are Situational
**Stripping insulated copper wire**: Only worth it for wire 6mm diameter or larger. For this gauge, stripping to Bare Bright copper recovers 3–4× the value per kg. For thin wire (1.5mm or less), sell it as Grade 2 insulated.
**Separating stainless steel from mild steel**: Stainless commands significantly higher prices. Use the magnet test — stainless is non-magnetic or only slightly magnetic.
Separations That Are Not Worth It
**Stripping thin wire**: Thin multicore cable is not worth stripping. The copper content by weight is low, and the effort is disproportionate to the price difference.
**Disassembling small electric motors**: A small electric motor contains copper windings and a steel case. Dismantling it at home is rarely worth the effort for domestic quantities. Sell it whole — yards handle them routinely.
A Simple Decision Framework
Ask yourself: if I spend 10 minutes on this separation, how much extra value does it create? At copper prices, separating 5kg from aluminium takes 5 minutes and creates perhaps £15–£20 extra — clearly worth it. Stripping 100m of thin multicore wire by hand might take 2 hours to recover 50g of copper worth 25p — not worth it.