Are Recyclers Offering Too Low Prices for the Scraps They Buy?

Some people complain that recycling companies are setting the prices too low for the items they buy. There’s the perception that they are not paying enough to those who collect the pieces they use to create new things that they sell for higher prices. Is this true? Are they profiteering too much at the expense of those who take the time and effort to go through piles of trash to collect scrap metals?

It may not be fair to think of recyclers this way. Companies like JandSMetals.com play an important role in local waste management while paying for the scraps they get at reasonable rates.

Standard prices

 While there are recycling centres that arbitrarily or whimsically set prices, many follow standard rates and industry practices in buying and selling recyclable metals. Several recyclers offer buying prices that are close to the prevailing rates. High-quality copper, for example, can fetch as much as £4.60 per kilo. Brass is set at £2.90 per kilo, while stainless steel costs from £0.70 to £1.00. Some companies also buy aluminium at the prevailing rate of £0.60 per kilo and lead at £1.45.

It’s a matter of finding the right recycling company. It helps to conduct an informal survey to know the prices offered by different recyclers in your area. You can also attempt to negotiate better rates. If you encounter recyclers that offer something considerably lower than what you expect, mention that other companies can provide a better deal. If they don’t budge, it only makes sense to go to another metal recycling centre.

 

Making sure you get the best prices

 Aside from finding the right shop that buys the recyclable scrap metals you collect, you can also do the following to make sure you are offered the best prices.

• Clean your scraps. The recycling of metals is not an easy process. If recyclers have to add another step (cleaning) to what they do, it’s understandable that they will be adding an expense, which translates to a lower buying rate for scraps. As such, you have to make sure that you clean the items you buy to make sure that only the valuable metals will be weighed for the pricing.
• Sort your collection. Additionally, you have to group metals of the same kind and quality. Copper should only be with other copper items of the same quality. Otherwise, recycling companies tend to buy them for the price of the lower quality or less expensive kind of metal in the mix of scraps. Don’t give them the reason to buy your metals for the lower price.

Just like in most other industries, there are greedy enterprising people in the recycling business. This does not mean, however, that recyclers are too stingy. Many adhere to the standard buying rates. You just need to find them and make sure that you clean and properly sort the items you sell. You cannot fault them for buying low if they still have to clean and group the scraps you bring to them.