How to Make Money Recycling Scrap Metal Part II  

Since my earlier article on making money from scrap metal has proven to be so popular, perhaps it behooves me to expand upon it. There is much more than the obvious to this business and I will explain the details.
With the prices of all metals today (2006) literally anything made of metal is worth something in the scrap metal market. Just a couple of years ago tin was as worthless as cardboard but now it is worth collecting it and cashing it in. What’s more it is common to find and heavy so it doesn’t take much to make 1,000 pounds of it. Another name for tin is “light steel” since most of it is sheet steel with some having a plating or coating of tin. Annually in the United States over 140 million tons of steel is recycled annually so you are not alone by any means.
Most people turn their noses up at air conditioners and lawn mowers which are found at curbside constantly. What few realize is that air conditioners (and dehumidifiers) contain condensers which are made of aluminum and copper which are worth something. These days it gets anywhere from 40 cents to 55 cents per pound. It is also called, “Copper and Aluminum Radiators” which includes the copper tubing with aluminum fins from baseboard heating systems.
Also within these appliances is copper tubing which is commanding incredible amounts almost qualifying it as a precious metal. Inside can be found insulated wire (which lately is bringing about $1 per pound). The heaviest part of air conditioners is a compressor which is iron and very heavy. I recommend that you save these separately in with your iron to earn you a little more. It may seem like a waste of time but believe me that when you add up one hundred of them (which is easy to do in one season) you begin to see the benefit from it.
As for lawn mowers, the engines are what is called, “Irony Aluminum” and worth a surprising amount (from 10 cents to 20 something cents per pound and each motor weighs at least twenty pounds). You need to separate the motors from the deck for them to be worth anything. But once you have the system down I find it takes about three minutes per lawn mower to do this.
The last category I will expand upon today is electric motors. They contain a lot of copper wire but it is a lot of trouble and tedium to separate it. Not to worry though, because the motors as is are worth recycling. Being as they are heavy it doesn’t take much to add up one hundred pounds of them. Electric motors in the scrap metal business is not limited to those found on washing machines etc. This includes starters, alternators, generators, circulating pumps, and similar devices.
At this point I must add that not every scrap yard will accept these so it must be researched ahead of time which yards will take it. As a general rule, yards which accept “ferrous” metals (which are magnetic like iron and tin) will also accept the others. But do not assume so by any means.
These days about the only thing that is not recycled is mercury simply because it is so toxic to handle and store. There isn’t much of a market for it anyway. But much less common metals such as tungsten, titanium (a strategic metal), and magnesium are also highly marketable but they are very rare in scrap terms.