Scrap metal terms, explained in plain English

Why scrap price sheets are hard to read

Every trade builds up its own shorthand, and scrap is no exception. Most of the words on a price sheet are quick ways of saying how clean, how heavy or how mixed a material is, and once you can read them the whole conversation with a buyer changes. You stop accepting a headline number and start asking which grade it applies to.

How to use this glossary

Terms are grouped into four sets: general terms that apply to every load, ferrous terms for iron and steel, non-ferrous terms for copper, aluminium, brass, stainless and the rest, and trading terms for marketplace and international deals.

A caution before you start. Scrap terminology is not perfectly standard. The same grade can have different names in different countries, and individual buyers sometimes publish their own definitions. Regional trade bodies publish specifications for the major grades, and Europe uses its own standard list of ferrous grades, so a name you read here may not match a buyer's price sheet word for word. When in doubt, ask the buyer what a grade means in practice before you agree a price. It is a reasonable question, and a good buyer will answer it clearly.

General terms

Scrap metal

Any metal that is no longer needed in its current form but still has recoverable value, from a single offcut of wire to the structural steel of a demolished building.

Prompt (industrial) scrap

Metal waste created during manufacturing, such as stamping offcuts, turnings and trimmings. It is usually clean, single-alloy and consistent, which is why manufacturers' scrap often sells above mixed demolition material.

Obsolete (old) scrap

Metal recovered from products at the end of their life: cars, appliances, buildings, machinery and pipework. It is more varied and usually needs more sorting than prompt scrap.

Yard

Short for scrap yard, a physical site that buys, sorts and processes scrap metal from the public and from businesses.

Weighbridge

A large scale, built into the ground or a platform, that weighs a whole vehicle before and after unloading. The difference is the weight of your load.

Gross, tare and net weight

Gross is the full weight of the vehicle and load, tare is the weight of the empty vehicle or container, and net is the weight of the scrap itself, which is the figure you are paid on.

Grade

A recognised description of how clean, pure and ready for the furnace a batch of metal is. Price follows grade as well as metal type. See How to Grade Your Scrap.

Spec and off-spec

A load is on spec when it meets the buyer's stated grade requirements and off spec when it does not. Off-spec loads are paid at a lower rate, or rejected.

Contamination

Anything in the load that is not the metal being sold: dirt, oil, plastic, rubber, wood, other metals. Contamination lowers the grade and the price.

Tramp metal

Unwanted pieces of other metals mixed into a load. Even small amounts of tramp metal can reduce the quality of a furnace melt.

Commingled or mixed

Loads that combine several metals or grades with no sorting. They are usually priced at the lowest rate, or sorted by the buyer at a cost passed to you.

Prep

Preparation of scrap before sale, such as cutting to size, stripping, cleaning or sorting, usually in exchange for a better price.

Baled

Scrap compressed into dense blocks for easier handling and shipping, common for aluminium cans, light steel and cardboard.

Turnings and borings

Shavings and curls produced by machining or drilling. They are often coated in cutting oil, which lowers their grade until it is cleaned off.

Dross

The oxidised waste skimmed from the surface of molten metal. It still contains some recoverable metal, but at much lower value.

Shredder feed

Mixed metal, often from cars or appliances, sized and prepared to go straight into an industrial shredder rather than being sorted by hand first.

Ferrous terms

HMS 1 (heavy melting steel 1)

Clean, heavy steel, typically around 6 mm (a quarter inch) thick or more, with no coatings, tin or galvanising. The top everyday ferrous grade.

HMS 2 (heavy melting steel 2)

Similar to HMS 1 but mixed with lighter, thinner or coated steel. It sells for less because it needs more processing.

Shredded steel

Steel, often from end-of-life vehicles and appliances, that has already been through an industrial shredder. It is a consistent, furnace-ready product that many mills prefer.

Structural steel

Heavy steel from construction: beams, girders, columns and channels. Usually clean and valuable within the ferrous category.

Plate and structural

A common grade description for thicker steel plate and sections cut to furnace size.

Light iron

Thin-gauge steel such as sheet, pressed panels and appliance skins. It is worth less per kilogram than heavy steel because of its low density and surface contamination.

Cast iron

A brittle iron alloy used in engine blocks, pipes and machinery castings, usually priced and sorted separately from steel. See Cast Iron Scrap Value.

Rebar

Reinforcing bar from concrete structures. It is steel, and demolition sites generate a lot of it, though attached concrete reduces its grade.

Non-ferrous and copper terms

Bare bright copper

The highest grade of copper wire: clean, bright, unalloyed and uncoated, with no insulation, solder or oxidation.

Copper number 1 and number 2

Number 1 is clean copper pipe or wire with minimal impurity. Number 2 has some solder, paint or light oxidation. Number 1 sells for more.

Insulated copper wire (ICW)

Copper wire still inside its plastic or rubber coating. Buyers pay less per kilogram than for bare copper because they must strip it first.

UBC (used beverage cans)

Used aluminium drink cans, usually sold baled. One of the most common household non-ferrous scrap items.

Aluminium extrusion

Aluminium formed by being pushed through a die, typical of window and door frames. Clean extrusion is a distinct, valuable aluminium grade.

Cast aluminium

Aluminium poured into moulds, found in engine parts, wheels and cookware. It is graded separately from extrusions and sheet.

Brass

A copper and zinc alloy used in fittings, taps and valves. It is non-ferrous, non-magnetic and typically priced between copper and aluminium.

Red brass and yellow brass

Sub-grades of brass defined by copper content. Red brass has more copper and is worth more than yellow brass.

Stainless 304 and 316

Common stainless steel grades. 316, the more corrosion-resistant marine grade, typically sells for more than 304. Both are only weakly magnetic or non-magnetic.

Zorba

A mixed, shredded stream of non-ferrous metals, mainly aluminium and zinc, produced after steel has been separated from shredded vehicles.

Twitch

Shredded aluminium-rich material separated from a non-ferrous mix, usually sorted further before melting.

Radiators

Copper and brass or aluminium heat exchangers from vehicles and buildings. They are priced by metal content and by whether the plastic tanks and steel parts have been removed.

Catalytic converter

An exhaust component containing small amounts of platinum group metals. It is priced by its precious metal content and is a frequent target for theft. See Scrap Metal Theft in 2026.

E-waste

Discarded electronics, including circuit boards that carry copper, gold and other recoverable metals. It needs specialist processing.

Trading and business terms

Fixed price listing

A listing where the seller names a price per unit weight and the first buyer to accept it gets the deal.

Live auction

A listing where buyers bid against each other in real time, sometimes with a reserve price set by the seller.

Reserve price

The minimum price a seller will accept in an auction. If bidding does not reach it, the lot does not sell.

Wanted Board

A place where a buyer posts the material, grade and quantity they want, and sellers with matching stock respond directly.

RFQ (request for quotation)

A formal request in which a buyer asks sellers to quote a price against stated specifications, often with a budget and deadline.

Escrow

Payment held securely by a neutral third party until both sides confirm the deal is complete, protecting buyer and seller from non-payment and non-delivery. See trust and safety.

KYC (know your customer)

An identity verification check that confirms a real person or business sits behind an account.

LME (London Metal Exchange)

A major global exchange where benchmark prices for metals such as copper and aluminium are set. Many scrap prices worldwide are quoted as a percentage or discount to the relevant benchmark.

Price index

A regularly updated set of reference prices for a range of materials, used to check an offer against current market rates.

Incoterms: FOB and CIF

Standard international shipping terms. FOB, free on board, ends the seller's responsibility once goods are loaded for export. CIF, cost insurance and freight, also covers shipping and insurance to the destination port.

HS code

A standardised international number that classifies traded goods for customs. Scrap metal exports are declared under specific HS codes, and some countries only permit imports of particular codes.

Bill of lading

The shipping document that acts as a receipt for goods, a contract of carriage and, in many cases, a title document.

Pre-shipment inspection

An independent check of quantity and quality before scrap is loaded for export, often required by the buyer's country or by the buyer.

The five terms that move your price most

If you remember nothing else, remember these. They decide most of the difference between a good offer and a poor one.

1. Grade. Every price is for a grade. Ask which grade a quoted number refers to before comparing it with anything else.
2. Net weight. You are paid on net weight, after tare. Check the weighbridge ticket against what you expected.
3. Contamination. Attached steel, plastic, dirt and moisture all reduce net payable weight or grade.
4. Spec. A buyer who says a load is off spec is telling you that the grade you described is not the grade they received. It is the most common trigger for a price cut.
5. Benchmark price. Most metal prices are tied to an index or exchange price. A quote that is a fixed percentage of the benchmark moves with the market, while a fixed number does not.

For a deeper look at how grade and cleanliness work together, read How to Grade Your Scrap and Ferrous vs Non-Ferrous Metals. To see how the factors combine into a real number, see How Much Is My Scrap Worth?.

Frequently asked questions