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Your neighbor sold aluminum cans last month and got one price. You went in this week and heard something totally different. What happened? Scrap metal pricing confuses a lot of people, especially when you're just cleaning out a garage or hauling stuff from a demo project. The numbers move around so much that it feels like you're going in blind every time. We hear questions about scrap metal prices all day long at M&M Recycling, and the confusion makes sense when you don't know what's behind the changes. It really isn't as chaotic as it seems on the surface. Here's a look at what influences the pricing and how you can walk in next time knowing what to expect.
The price a scrap yard gives you is directly connected to international commodity exchanges. Copper trades through the London Metal Exchange. Aluminum moves on similar global platforms. Steel pricing follows futures contracts and trade deals between nations. Manufacturing slows in China or a Chilean mine closes, and you see the effects here in a matter of days. Your local rate is just an echo of those exchange movements, sometimes within the same week.
That's the reason prices jump around between Tuesday and Friday when nothing locally seems different. Scrap metal companies don't pull numbers from nowhere. They follow daily market shifts and set rates based on what they see. If steel demand climbs in Asia and domestic recyclers start fighting for material, it pushes prices higher. Demand weakens, and payouts drop with it. Currency adds another wrinkle. A stronger dollar makes our scrap less attractive overseas, and that can hold down prices here even when demand is solid.
Understanding this takes most of the confusion away. The number posted reflects global industrial activity narrowed down to your specific haul, so check commodity prices before you load up.
Different metals serve different industries, and they don't always rise and fall in sync. Copper feeds electrical manufacturing, wiring for construction, and electronics production. Aluminum shows up in beverage cans, automotive parts, and aerospace components. Steel supports infrastructure, appliance manufacturing, and heavy equipment builds. When home building picks up, copper spikes. When automakers ramp up production, aluminum climbs. But those things rarely happen at the same time.
So when you bring in a mixed load, it won't all respond the same way to what's happening in the market. You could haul in copper pipe and aluminum siding on the same trip and watch one hold its value while the other tanks. A scrap metal buyer looks at each metal based on its own market, not some blended average of everything together.
Watching individual metals will help you more than looking at general scrap prices. Industry publications and commodity trackers separate out specific metals by grade and type. A little research before you load up shows you what to expect and helps you plan bigger hauls around the timing. Some people hold onto copper during slow weeks and sell aluminum when it peaks. You need storage space to do that, but it can add up to better returns over a few months.
Clean metal that's already sorted pays more than contaminated or mixed loads. A bundle of bare bright copper wire barely needs any work before it gets resold. A tangled pile of insulated wire with corroded fittings and random stuff attached takes labor, equipment, and time to deal with. Every hour a facility spends working through your material is an hour they can't spend on the next person's load.
Scrap metal recycling facilities in Atlanta, GA grade what you bring based on purity and how much prep you did. Number one copper has no solder, paint, or coatings on it. Number two copper has soldered joints or some light oxidation. The price difference between those grades can be 15 to 25 percent. Aluminum, brass, and steel all have similar grading systems. Aluminum cans grade out differently from aluminum siding, and siding grades differently from cast aluminum engine blocks. Each category has its own price based on the alloy and how contaminated it is.
The work you do at home shows up in what you get paid. Strip wire insulation when it's practical. Pull steel screws from aluminum frames. Separate brass fittings from iron pipe and get the concrete off your rebar. Take rubber gaskets off copper tubing. Everything you do before arriving cuts down on what the facility has to process, and that efficiency translates into your payout. Plenty of regular sellers pick up basic tools like wire strippers and angle grinders to bump up the grade of their material before they sell it.
Local supply fluctuates constantly. A large demolition project across town can flood a scrap yard with steel beams and copper pipe within a single week. When supply surges, buyers adjust prices downward because they have more material than they can move quickly. Storage costs money. So does the capital tied up in inventory sitting in the yard. A scrap metal company is always balancing incoming material against outbound shipments.
Demand from end users shifts around just as unpredictably. A regional manufacturer might put in a big order for recycled aluminum one month and then stop buying the next while they work through what they already have. Mills that turn scrap into new products adjust their purchasing based on their own orders. When they need material, they pay more for it. When they have plenty, they pull back. These shifts happen regionally, so prices in Atlanta might move one direction while prices in Birmingham go another during the same week.
Most sellers don't realize how much timing matters. Showing up when supply is flooded means you're one of a dozen people who cleaned out a garage that month. Showing up when supply runs thin gives you an advantage. This is where having a relationship with your local scrap yard pays off. Staff can tell you when they're actively hunting for certain metals and when they've got more than they need. That information helps you schedule trips around the best possible payout.
Showing up to any scrap metal recycling transaction without information works against you. A few questions can do that. Ask what grades cover the material you're bringing and if the prices are current, if they're from yesterday's market, and whether volume affects your rate.
Request a breakdown before you unload, too. A reputable scrap metal buyer will tell you how they categorized everything and what each component weighed. Transparency protects both sides and gives you a foundation for future transactions. If something seems miscategorized, bring it up. Mistakes happen, and it's much better to sort them out at the scale than to figure it out after you're already home.
Scrap metal prices move for logical reasons, like global commodity markets, individual metal demand cycles, material condition, local supply levels, and facility processing costs. Preparation, timing, and direct questions put you in a stronger position every time you pull onto the scale. The more you understand about the system, the less confusing it becomes. Bring your next load to M&M Recycling. We offer transparent pricing, fair grading, and friendly staff. Whether you're clearing a single garage or running regular demo hauls, we make the process simple and worth your time.
