Materials Guide

What we buy &
what pays most.

If it's metal, we probably buy it. Here' s the rundown of what comes across our scale most often, how it's graded, and a few tips to get the most money for your load.

Southard Salvage buys ferrous and non-ferrous scrap metal from homeowners, contractors, plumbers, electricians, HVAC techs, demolition crews, and anyone else with metal to move. Every price below is posted and updated dailyon our price list— call or text (908) 619-9907to confirm today's number before you load up.

Copper — the top payout

Copper is the highest-value common scrap we handle. The cleaner and brighter, the more it's worth:

  • Bare Bright— clean, uninsulated, shiny #1 copper wire. The top tier. Strip your wire and this is what you get.
  • Copper #1— clean tube and bus bar, no solder, paint, or fittings.
  • Copper #2— unalloyed copper with solder, paint, or light tarnish.
  • Copper #3— roofing copper, solder-heavy, or with attachments.

Brass & lead

We take yellow brass, brass radiators (clean), used brass shells, dirty brass, and clean lead. Sorting and cleaning brass before you arrive bumps the grade and the price.

Aluminum

Clean aluminum sheet, extruded aluminum, aluminum wheels, and dirty/cast aluminum. Removing steel, plastic, and rubber from aluminum is the single biggest thing you can do to raise your payout.

Wire & cable

Romex, THHN, MCM cable, BX (steel and aluminum), low-grade extension-cord wire, and clean or dirty aluminum/copper. If you've got an unusual cable type, call or text — we price all wires.

Ferrous — steel & iron

Light iron, prepared #1 HMS, plate and structural (I-beam, channel, angle), cast iron, rebar, drums and rotors, and large machinery (torch-prepped). Priced per pound, per 100 lbs, and per gross ton — whichever works for your load size.

Vehicles & components

Complete and incomplete cars, diesel trucks, buses, plus alternators, starters, electric motors, sealed units, transformers, ballasts, batteries, and 304 stainless. Complete cars are worth more— see our junk car pagefor pickup and what affects the quote.

Three tips to get paid more

  • Separate your metals.A mixed load gets graded down to the lowest metal in it. Sorted copper, brass, and aluminum each pay their own rate.
  • Strip insulated wirewhen it's worth your time — bare bright pays far more than insulated.
  • Don't overthink it. If sorting isn' t practical, bring it anyway. We have the machines to unload material of any size and we'll sort it for you — that' s the service.

See exact prices.
Updated daily.

Numbers move with the market. Check the live list or call for today's rate on your material.

See Today's Prices Call or Text (908) 619-9907