AA CopperRecycling Call 0435 805 124

For workshops

Scrap collection for engineering and fabrication workshops.

A workshop is the one customer who generates the same metal, in the same grade, every week. That is the best scrap arrangement there is, because clean separated swarf and drops are worth noticeably more than the same material tipped into one bin.

  • Scheduled runs
  • Separate bins by grade
  • Swarf and turnings
  • Standing rate
Call 0435 805 124 Request a collection

Workshops are the easiest commercial scrap customer to get right and the one most often set up badly. If you run one bin, everything gets paid at the rate of the cheapest thing in it. If you run three, the brass and stainless get paid as brass and stainless. Same metal, same work, materially different cheque.

What we collect

  • Steel swarf and turnings. Off lathes and mills. Bulky, oily, and worth collecting in a dedicated bin.
  • Stainless swarf and offcuts. Worth several times mild steel, and the first thing to keep separate.
  • Brass and bronze turnings. The highest value swarf most shops produce. Keep it in its own drum and never let it near the steel bin.
  • Aluminium offcuts and turnings. Extrusion ends, plate drops, billet offcuts.
  • Plate and section drops. Flat bar ends, RHS and angle offcuts, laser and plasma skeletons.
  • Copper offcuts. Busbar ends, earth strap, tube.
  • Old machinery and tooling. Dead machines, broken jigs, worn tooling steel.

Rates

MetalPrice per kg
Copper (clean/bare)$14.00 to $18.00
Brass$7.50 to $12.00
Insulated / wire & cable$4.60 to $9.50
Aluminium$0.90 to $3.00
Stainless steel$0.45 to $0.90
Electric motors$1.20 to $1.50
Compressors (black)$1.00 to $1.20
Radiators (copper & brass)$7.00 to $9.00

Indicative rates, the same ones on the home page. Metal markets move every week, so ring 0435 805 124 for the exact figure before you load up.

The spread between stainless and brass on this table is the argument for separate drums. A shop turning brass fittings all week and tipping the swarf into the steel bin is giving away most of the value of that material.

Swarf needs its own thinking

  • Oil and coolant matter. Heavily saturated swarf gets downgraded, because the buyer at the other end is paying for metal, not fluid. Draining it is usually worth doing.
  • Volume is deceptive. Swarf takes up a lot of space for its weight, so bins fill faster than people expect and a scheduled exchange beats calling when it is overflowing.
  • Mixed swarf is the worst case. Once stainless and mild steel turnings are in the same bin they cannot be separated, and the whole bin gets paid as the cheaper one.

How a workshop arrangement runs

  1. We look at what you machine and how fast the bins fill.
  2. Bins or drums go in, one per grade that matters for your work.
  3. Collection on a fixed schedule, weekly or monthly, so nobody has to remember to ring.
  4. Weighed by grade, every collection, with the figures recorded.
  5. Paid to the business by EFT on a regular cycle.

Related

Questions we get asked

Do you supply bins for swarf?

Yes, and more than one if separating grades is worth it for your work. No charge while you are filling them.

Can we get a fixed price rather than a market rate?

We will quote you a standing rate and tell you when the market has genuinely moved. What we will not do is quietly reprice you and hope nobody checks the dockets.

Is oily swarf a problem?

It is accepted but it is paid lower, because the weight includes fluid. Draining into a drum first usually pays for itself.

Do you take whole dead machines?

Yes. Give us the rough weight and whether it needs lifting gear.

Want a standing collection for the workshop?

Tell us what you machine and how often the bin fills. We will set the bins, the schedule and the rate.

Call 0435 805 124