Metal recycling is the return of metal from a product that has finished its service life back into production. That sounds like any other waste loop, but metals have one property that changes the entire economics of the process: remelting does not degrade them. Paper loses fibre length with every cycle and most plastics descend to ever simpler applications. Copper, once remelted, is simply copper.

This article is an introduction. It follows what happens to the material from the moment it is no longer needed to the moment it returns to production — and shows where along that route its value is created or lost.

Why metals are a special case in recycling

Three things set metals apart from other material streams.

No degradation. An alloy that has been remelted correctly has the same parameters as before use. There is no "lower recycled grade" here — there is a grade that either meets the specification or does not.

A very large energy gap. Producing metal from ore involves smelting processes with enormous energy demand. Remelting finished metal requires incomparably less — for aluminium, industry figures usually put it in the order of a few per cent of the energy needed to produce it from bauxite. It is exactly this gap that makes scrap not a waste to be disposed of but a raw material that buyers compete for.

An independent market value. Metal has a reference price on the commodity exchanges, so the material returns to the loop not because someone mandated its collection but because collecting it pays. That distinguishes this loop from streams that survive on regulation alone.

The route of the material: five stages

1. Generation and collection

Scrap arises in two places. Production scrap — offcuts, turnings, punching waste, rejects — is predictable and usually homogeneous, because the alloy it was made from is known. Post-consumer scrap — from dismantled machinery, installations, vehicles and demolition — is mixed and has to be identified.

That distinction translates directly into price: material of a known, repeatable composition is worth more than the same mass in the form of an unidentified mix.

2. Grading and inspection

At the branch the material goes onto a legalised weighbridge and through commercial identification: which metal, which grade, which contaminants. Where the alloy is not obvious we use a handheld spectrometer, which gives the actual elemental composition — the fastest way to tell, say, wrought aluminium alloys from casting alloys, or brass from bronze.

This stage determines the valuation. We describe how it works in practice in the article on what happens when scrap is received at a branch.

3. Preparing the batch

Identified material joins a batch of the same grade. Depending on the type, that means separating fractions, removing non-metallic components and sometimes cutting to a size the buyer accepts. The aim is always the same: the batch has to meet the specification of the mill or foundry, because that is what defines what may go into the furnace.

4. Remelting at the buyer

The prepared material goes to a buyer — a mill, a foundry or a trader, in Poland, Europe or the Far East. There it is melted and brought to the composition required by the standard. Part of the material is lost in the process as dross and slag; the more contaminants, the greater the loss and the less metal per tonne of charge.

5. A new product

The remelted metal becomes an ingot, rod, extrusion or casting — and the cycle begins again. What matters for the supplier is that the chain does not end at the scrap yard: the requirements of the buyer at the far end are what ultimately set the rate at the near end.

Where value is created in this chain

The price a supplier receives is not a function of mass alone. It has three components.

The exchange quotation is the reference point for pure metal — not the rate for the material. We explain the difference in the article on how LME quotations translate into the buying price.

The grade determines how close the material is to the exchange commodity. In copper, the difference between clean wire and mixed material is a difference of classes, not a nuance — see copper grades in scrap buying.

The yield is how much metal will actually remain from a tonne once contaminants are removed. This is why a mixed batch settles at the weakest fraction rather than the average — we expand on it in the article on how to sort scrap before selling.

Recycling and the paperwork

Trading in scrap is trading in waste, so alongside the commercial side there is a record-keeping side. A company that generates waste in the course of its business is usually subject to registration and record-keeping in the Polish BDO system, and transferring a batch may require a waste transfer card. The scope of the obligations depends on the status of the supplier and on the type and quantity of the waste.

We cover it step by step in the guide to BDO and KPO when selling scrap, and waste codes can be checked in the code catalogue. Private individuals do not keep waste records — for them there is a separate route.

Where to start

If material arises at your site regularly, the biggest difference comes not from sorting before delivery but from separating the streams where the waste is generated. If you have a one-off batch, the type of material and a rough quantity are enough — we will handle the identification.

See what we buy, check how rates are set on the buying prices page, or send a material enquiry straight away.