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Electricians and plumbers work with some of the most valuable scrap metals on the market. Copper wiring, brass fittings, and aluminum conduit pile up fast on job sites and renovation projects. M&M Recycling is here to help local tradespeople pull in more money by turning their leftover materials into extra cash. If you're in the trades and are still tossing metal scraps in the dumpster, here's why that habit is costing you.
Most electricians underestimate how much copper accumulates in a single week. A typical residential rewire leaves behind three to five pounds of scrap wire. Commercial jobs produce even more. The stripped Romex from an old panel is worth money. Those wire nuts with copper tails you've been throwing away are also worth money. The math changes fast once you start paying attention. A busy electrician running two or three jobs a week can collect 15 to 20 pounds of copper in five days. At current prices, that translates to $40 or $50 of pure profit sitting in the back of a work van. Multiply that by 50 weeks, and you're looking at over $2,000 a year from material you used to trash. Scrap metal recycling in Conyers, GA turns waste into working capital. Stop treating copper scraps as garbage and start treating them as inventory. Toss a five-gallon bucket in your van. Every time you strip wire or pull old circuits, drop the copper in the bucket. When it's full, drive to the scrap yard. This simple system puts cash in your pocket without adding extra time to your workday.
Plumbers pull brass out of walls and crawl spaces on almost every renovation job. Gate valves, ball valves, compression fittings, and old supply lines contain brass, which commands strong prices. A single brass gate valve can weigh a pound or more. Remove four or five of those during a bathroom remodel, and you've collected five pounds of yellow brass in an afternoon. The value compounds when you factor in brass P traps, shut-off valves under sinks, and chunky supply stops from the 1970s. Any reputable scrap metal buyer will pay top dollar for clean brass because the alloy contains copper and zinc. Both metals hold value in manufacturing. Foundries melt brass down and recast it into new fittings and components. Your old corroded valve becomes raw material for someone else's new plumbing supply. A lot of plumbers don't realize they can also recycle brass hose bibs, boiler drains, and even brass bushings from older water heaters. If it's yellow or reddish yellow and heavy for its size, it's probably brass. Throw it in the brass pile and let a scrap metal buyer weigh it out for you.
The fastest way to lose money at the scale is to dump everything in one bucket. Mixed loads pay the lowest rate because someone at the facility has to sort through and separate each metal type. That labor comes out of your payout. Separating metals on the job site takes five extra minutes and adds dollars to every trip. A scrap metal company prices each metal category based on current commodity rates. Clean copper pays more than insulated copper. Bare bright copper pays more than #2 copper with solder or corrosion. Yellow brass pays more than mixed brass. The cleaner and more separated your load, the higher your total check. Professional tradespeople treat scrap metal recycling as part of the job. They separate as they go, just like they organize their tools and materials. Having a bit of daily discipline means better payouts and faster transactions at the scale.
Scrap metal pricing fluctuates with commodity markets. Copper might run $3.50 a pound one month and $3.80 the next. A good scrap metal company will give regular customers a heads-up when prices spike. A quick call can mean an extra $50 or $100 on a larger load. When you bring consistent volume to the same yard, the staff learns your name and your truck. They know you separate your metals and bring clean material. Having a good relationship matters a lot when you have questions. Maybe you pulled some unusual alloy from an old boiler room, and you're not sure what it is. A scrap yard you've visited 50 times will take the time to identify it and make sure you get fair value. A random yard might just throw it in the mixed bin and pay the lowest rate. Building a great connection takes nothing more than showing up consistently and treating the yard staff with respect.
Electricians and plumbers handle valuable metals every single day. Copper wire, brass valves, aluminum conduit, and steel pipe all have some serious market value. The tradespeople who recognize that value build scrap runs into their weekly routine. The result is a reliable income stream that offsets material costs and boosts the bottom line. M&M Recycling pays competitive rates for all nonferrous and ferrous metals. We process loads quickly and treat every customer like a professional. Bring your copper, brass, aluminum, and steel to our facility and find out exactly what your scrap is worth. We've been serving contractors and tradespeople for years because we understand how your business works. Stop by this week and turn your job site scraps into money.
