Nonferrous scrap is the metal left from manufacturing processes or obtained from the disposal of products that have reached the end of their lifecycles that has no iron content. Copper and aluminum are the two most widely traded forms of nonferrous scrap, although there is also substantial demand for recovered nickel, lead, zinc and precious metal scrap. Processing of nonferrous scrap metal ranges from simple sorting operations to baling and shredding. Buyers of these metals include secondary refiners and smelters who melt the scrap and recast it into alloys that serve as intermediate products for other fabricators and manufacturers. Some brass and aluminum mills use scrap directly to produce their finished products.
Nonferrous scrap falls within one of three categories defined by how it is generated.
This is often the broadest category, ranging from aluminum beverage cans to defunct lead-acid auto batteries to the tiny gold connectors on printed circuit boards. Copper scrap prices inched downward through the year. At the end of 1997, No. 1 copper sold to brass mills stood at 75.5 cents a pound. Ingot makers' prices for No. 1 copper followed the same path. They stood at 65 to 66 cents a pound at the close of 1997, declined to 63 to 64 cents a pound by midyear 1998, and ended the year at 56 to 57 cents per pound.