You’ve probably seen people with beat up trucks and vans hauling around a rickety trailer with loads of old appliances and bicycles from time to time. While this may not seem like the most glamorous way to earn money, these people, who typically deal in scrap metal, can often rake in some considerable cash by collecting scrap metal and selling it to scrap yards for recycling. In fact brass, copper, aluminum and steel recycling in NJ can often be big business, and it can mean big money for a scrap metal collector.
However, if you want to make some real money by gathering and selling scrap metal, it will behoove you to know a bit about the different types of metals out there and how much each type of metal is worth. For example, there are two types of recyclable metals, ferrous and non ferrous. The best way to tell the two apart is with a magnet. If a magnet sticks to the metal, it’s ferrous and if it doesn’t stick, it’s considered non ferrous.
Common ferrous metals are iron and steel. These metals are also the lowest value metals in terms of what a scrap yard will offer you. A scrap yard will still accept your steel or iron scrap metal, but unless you have a large amount of it, don’t expect a ton of cash when you sell it. In other words, Steel recycling in NJ won’t garner you as much money as you might like.
Non ferrous metals like copper and brass are a different story. In most cases, a scrap yard will pay top dollar for these metal types. It may be a bit harder to come by, and sometimes you have to dissect different pieces of equipment to get to the copper or brass that is used internally. However, the value of these metals makes it well worth the effort. Copper and Brass recycling can be incredibly lucrative if you’re willing to take the time to get the metals.
Whether it’s gathering copper or brass or if it’s steel recycling in NJ, the benefits are many. Not only are you making some money by selling scrap metal, you are doing a great service by reusing this metal and eliminating the overuse of the many natural resources that are used when manufacturing different types of metals.
