Teaching Families About The Benefits Of Recycling

How To Recycler Copper Wire And Get The Best Price

Copper wire recycling has become a significant business in the recycling industry. Knowing where to take the wire and how to prepare it can affect the price you get for it on any given day. While the copper wire is worth money in nearly any condition, there are some ways to maximize the profit you can make with a little bit of work before you sell it.

Copper's Value

Copper wire recycling has been around for a few years and the value of the copper changes with the supply. As a nonferrous material, copper is one of the metals that can be recycled without losing structural properties no matter how many times it is processed. 

Because of its stability, copper is useful in many ways, and copper wire recycling is one way the material can be recovered and reused. Copper is graded when recycled, and pure copper is called clean or grade 1 copper and is worth the most. Copper mixed with other materials is still valuable but is graded as dirty, or grade 2, and the price can be significantly lower for it. 

Preparing Copper Wire

Before you do any copper wire recycling, you need to consider the price you want to sell it. If you take the time to remove the outer insulation from the copper, you will get the copper wire buyer to pay full price for the material, but it can take some time to remove the jacket. 

Solid copper wire is worth more than stranded wire because it weighs more, but both are recyclable. Cutting any connectors off the wire is important because they are often made of steel or aluminum and will lower the value when you sell the wire.

Removing the outer insulation from the wire is quickly done with a sharp utility knife by making a single cut down the length of the insulation and pulling the jacket off in one piece. Discard the insulation and put the wire aside. Once you have a good amount of wire, you can take it to a copper wire buyer to have them value it and pay you for your efforts.  

Price Fluctuations

Copper wire recycling is profitable most of the time, but it is beneficial to watch the market determine when to take the material to the copper wire buyer. If the price is low, you will do better to hold onto the copper until the price begins to rise. 

When the price peaks for a few days, sell the copper wire to your local recycler to get the best price possible. It is a tricky balance because if you wait too long, the price could fall again, so checking the pricing daily is often the best way to ensure that you are going to make more when you are trying to make a business of copper wire recycling. Contact a copper wire buyer to learn more.