Written by: Emily Joswiak • January 18, 2021• Business

How To Increase the Revenue of Your Scrap Yard

If you work at or operate a scrap yard, you don’t need to handle the copper yourself to know that every penny counts. In the macro, making money in scrapping is simple—acquire low-value but plentiful ferrous (iron-containing metal) in high quality and volume, and acquire as much non-ferrous metal as you can. But as we look more closely, there’s more you can do to get more from your metal. Here’s how to increase the revenue of your scrap yard and become a local leader in a competitive but often overlooked industry.

Build Relationships

The scrapping business, like so many others, is a relationship business. You rely on people to bring you material to purchase and resell, but in markets with competing scrappers, you need to distinguish yourself as a superior business partner. Do business with friendliness, honesty, and integrity, and you’ll find suppliers will keep coming back to you rather than testing the market with other scrappers and recyclers.

Gain Access To Prompt Scrap

A specific aspect of relationship building in the scrap industry is gaining access to prompt scrap. Obsolete scrap, or the metal from post-consumer products, will get the most attention because of the non-ferrous metals within. As far as revenue-generating ferrous metals go, prompt scrap, or the metal left over from fabrication, is what you really want. By gaining access to metal producers as an outlet for their prompt scrap, you can make much more money on steel than you would by cobbling together old rebar and railings.

Own and Operate Quality Equipment

You can’t get good money from your scrap if you’re literally letting it slip through your fingers. Our eyes and hands can go far in identifying and separating valuable metals from the heap, but when it comes to harvesting copper wire, electromagnetic separators and granulators quickly do the work that can’t be done by hand. In order to increase the revenue of your scrap yard, an initial investment in scrapping equipment will save time and money in the long run. By having a full complement of essential equipment on site, you’ll make the most cash from your daily metal intake.

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