What Scrap Metal Is Worth: A Plain-English Price Guide

"What's this actually worth?" is the single most common question anyone asks about scrap metal. The honest answer is: it depends, on the metal, the grade, the amount, and the day. Scrap prices move daily with global commodity markets, and a kilo of copper on Monday isn't worth the same as a kilo of copper on Friday.

But "it depends" isn't a useful answer when you're staring at a pile of old pipe and trying to work out whether it's worth the trip to the yard. So here's a plain-English guide to what common scrap items are roughly worth in the UK right now, no jargon, no obscure grades, just realistic numbers.

All prices below are approximate and marked as [INSERT CURRENT PRICE], for today's actual UK scrap prices, check our live price page.

How yards price scrap (the 30-second version)

Scrap yards pay by weight and by grade. Grade means purity, how clean the metal is and how little work the yard has to do to process it. A bag of clean copper pipe with no fittings is a higher grade (and higher price) than the same weight of copper with paint, solder, and brass fittings still attached.

Two identical-looking kilos of copper can be worth 20% different amounts based on grade alone. That's why sorting matters.

Copper: the headline metal

Copper is the metal most people have at home (in pipes, cables, and old hot water cylinders) and it's also the most valuable of the common scrap metals. UK copper prices have been unusually strong through 2025, up more than 20% on the year, driven by global demand for EV and renewable infrastructure.

Bright copper wire, clean, bare copper wire with no insulation and no oxidation. The top grade. Around [INSERT CURRENT PRICE]/tonne, or roughly £7–£8 per kg.

Heavy copper, clean copper pipe and sheet. Slightly below bright wire. Around [INSERT CURRENT PRICE]/tonne.

Braziery copper, copper with solder, paint, or fittings attached. The grade most people bring in from bathroom refits. Around [INSERT CURRENT PRICE]/tonne, typically £600–£800/tonne less than clean copper.

Insulated copper cable, cable with the plastic sheath still on. Prices vary wildly depending on the copper content (thick cable is worth more than thin cable). Thin household wiring might fetch £2–£3/kg; thick mains cable £4–£6/kg.

Typical household amounts: - Copper pipe from a bathroom refit: 5–10 kg → £35–£80 - Old copper hot water cylinder: 15–25 kg → £100–£200 - Coil of stripped mains cable from a rewire: 10–20 kg → £70–£160

Brass: the overlooked earner

Brass looks like copper but it's an alloy (copper + zinc) so it's cheaper per kilo, but not by much. And it's in all sorts of things people don't think of: taps, valves, door handles, old ornaments, padlocks, light fittings, bullet casings.

Yellow brass, the standard grade. Around [INSERT CURRENT PRICE]/tonne, or roughly £3–£4 per kg.

Red brass, higher copper content, higher price. Around [INSERT CURRENT PRICE]/tonne.

Typical amounts: - Set of old brass taps: 2–3 kg → £6–£12 - Box of mixed brass fittings from a job: 5 kg → £15–£20 - A single heavy brass radiator valve: 0.5 kg → £1.50–£2

Brass isn't life-changing money on its own but if you're already heading to the yard, it's silly to throw it in the bin.

Aluminium: lightweight, light value

Aluminium is everywhere, cans, window frames, ladders, wheels, cookware, but it's light, which means it takes a lot of volume to add up to much weight. Current prices are around [INSERT CURRENT PRICE]/tonne, so roughly £1 per kg for clean aluminium.

Extruded aluminium (clean window frames, sections), top grade, around [INSERT CURRENT PRICE]/tonne.

Cast aluminium (engine blocks, cookware), slightly lower, around [INSERT CURRENT PRICE]/tonne.

Mixed/painted aluminium, the lowest grade. Around [INSERT CURRENT PRICE]/tonne.

Drinks cans, worth collecting if you do it at scale, but the cans must be clean and compressed. A whole bin bag of crushed cans is about 3–4 kg → £3–£4. Don't expect to retire on aluminium cans.

Typical amounts: - Old aluminium ladder: 8–12 kg → £8–£12 - Set of alloy wheels (tyres off): 40 kg → £40 or more (often graded higher as "alloy") - Run of aluminium guttering: 10–15 kg → £10–£15

Lead: heavy and valuable

Lead is the sleeper hit of scrap metals. It's dense, a small amount weighs a lot, and the price per kg is strong. Around [INSERT CURRENT PRICE]/tonne, or roughly £1.50–£1.80 per kg for clean lead.

Roofers are the main source of lead scrap (flashing offcuts, old lead roofing) and most of it gets chucked in the skip by people who don't realise what it's worth. If you find lead pipe in a Victorian house during a renovation, that's also lead scrap.

Typical amounts: - Day's worth of lead flashing offcuts from a roofing job: 15–25 kg → £25–£45 - Old lead pipe from a Victorian refit: 10–20 kg → £15–£35

Important: lead is toxic. Wear gloves when handling it and wash your hands before eating. Don't let kids near it.

Stainless steel: surprising value

Most people think "stainless steel = cheap," but stainless actually fetches a decent price because it contains nickel. Around [INSERT CURRENT PRICE]/tonne for 304-grade (the common kitchen stuff), rising to [INSERT CURRENT PRICE]/tonne for higher grades.

Old kitchen sinks, commercial catering equipment, and stainless worktops are all worth taking to a yard rather than the tip.

Steel and iron: volume game

Ferrous scrap, normal steel, cast iron, is the lowest value per kilo of any common metal. Around [INSERT CURRENT PRICE]/tonne, which works out to £0.15–£0.25 per kg. But ferrous scrap is sold by the boot-load or the skip-load, so the numbers still add up.

Typical household items: - Washing machine: 60–70 kg → £10–£15 - Electric cooker: 40–50 kg → £8–£12 - Radiator (standard steel): 15–25 kg → £3–£6 - Cast iron bath: 60–100 kg → £15–£25 - Steel garden shed frame: 30–50 kg → £6–£12

None of these are fortunes. But if you're clearing a house, loading all of it into a trailer for one yard trip easily hits £80–£150.

Other items worth knowing about

Car batteries, most yards will pay £5–£15 per battery. Don't bother stripping them; sell as-is.

Catalytic converters, contain precious metals (platinum, palladium, rhodium) and can be worth £50–£400 depending on the vehicle. Specialist buyers pay more than standard yards. Warning: cat theft is a huge problem, so yards will scrutinise these closely, expect detailed ID checks and proof of ownership.

Whole cars, a scrapped car is typically worth £150–£400 as scrap, depending on size and metal content. You'll need a V5C logbook.

Whitegoods (fridges, freezers), these contain cooling gas that must be professionally removed before scrapping. Most yards still take them, but at a reduced rate (£3–£8) because of the degassing cost.

The fastest way to estimate a pile of scrap

If you've got a mixed pile and want a rough value before loading the car, here's the shortcut:

1. Eyeball what's mostly copper and brass, whatever you can see, multiply the estimated weight by £5/kg as a rough average across grades.
2. Everything else non-ferrous (aluminium, stainless, lead), multiply the weight by £1–£1.50/kg.
3. All the ferrous (steel, iron, appliances), multiply weight by £0.20/kg.

Add them up. That'll get you within 20% of what you'll actually be paid. Then check today's prices for the real numbers before you go.

Want to go deeper? Our guide on how to sell scrap metal in the UK covers everything from yard etiquette to what ID you'll need.

Subscribe to The Weekly Melt for live UK scrap prices and market commentary delivered every Tuesday.