Factors That Will Dictate the Pricing of Your Scrap Metal

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Maintaining Industrial Equipment During the school holidays last year, I spent time working at my family's manufacturing plant. They have a lot of industrial equipment, and I spent most of my time shadowing the maintenance manager. It was fascinating to see the amount of care and cleaning which goes into making sure all the machines run smoothly. I began this blog as a way to document the different types of maintenance I learned for two reasons. Firstly, because I aim to take over the family business one day, and also to share my knowledge with others who are interested in running their own manufacturing plant.

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Scrap metal recycling is an excellent way of ensuring you are not contributing to the pollution of the planet while still making a small profit off your metallic waste materials. However, although scrap metal recycling is common and there are many facilities where you can take your scrap metal, not many people can tell how much they can make from their scrap metal. Granted, scrap metal prices are not set in stone. Nonetheless, there are a few things that you could do to maximise on your profit. Read the following list of factors that will dictate the pricing of your scrap metal.

The supply and demand in the scrap metal market

While different types of metals will be of more value than others, the supply and demand of the market will determine the amount of money that you can make. In general, when there is a high demand for raw materials, scrap metal prices will be higher rather than the mining of natural ores. On the other hand, when there is ready availability of metal, then you should not expect a high price for your scrap. In other cases, some materials such as aluminium tend to be in constant demand since they are sought after as a commonly used material in the manufacture of a vast array of products.

The quality of the scrap metal

You may think that the quality of the scrap merely relates to the original state of the metal, but this is not entirely accurate. The way the scrap has been prepared for recycling is what determines the quality of the metal too. First, it is imperative to sort your metals into their different types. Failure to do so means the separation stage is left up to the recycling centre, which translates into more man-hours to different the copper from the brass, the steel from the aluminium and so. The second thing that you should do once you separate your scrap metal is to clean the material. Dirt, paint, solder and other compounds will depreciate the price of the scrap metal since the recycling centre will have to clean it up.

The international market price

Another factor that will have an impact on the pricing of your scrap metal is the price that the global market is buying and selling scrap metal. These prices are usually determined by the countries that consume the most substantial amount of scrap. If these countries have a decreasing demand for a particular metal, the scrap metal price will diminish too. 

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