Scrap

Scrap is a term used to describe the recycling of metal. Old, unwanted metal such as vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials, are taken to a scrapyard, where they are processed for later melting into new products.

A scrapyard, depending on your location, may allow you to browse their lot and purchase items before they're sent to the smelters, often selling entire units such as engines or machinery by weight with no regard to their functional status. You are typically required to supply all your own tools and labor to extract parts, and some scrapyards may require you to first waive liability for personal injury before entering. Many scrapyards also sell bulk metals (aluminum, stainless steel, etc) by weight, often at prices substantially below the retail purchasing costs of similar pieces, and can be a goldmine if they have what you need for a project -- the proverbial "One man's trash is another man's treasure."

In contrast to a wreckers, scrapyards typically sell everything by weight, rather than by item. To the scrapyard, the primary value of the scrap is what the smelter will give them for it, rather than the value of whatever shape the metal may be in. An auto wrecker, on the other hand, would price the exact same scrap based on what the item does, regardless of what it weighs. Typically, if a wrecker can't sell something above the value of the metal in it, they would then take it to the scrapyard and sell it by weight. Equipment containing parts of various metals can often be purchased at a price below that of either of the metals, due to saving the scrapyard the labor of separating the metals before shipping them to be recycled. As an example, a scrapyard in Arcata, California sells engines for $0.25 per pound, while aluminum, which the engine might be made mostly of, sells for $1.25 per pound.