Learn / Cast Iron Scrap Value
Engine blocks, old radiators, machinery castings, cast iron is genuinely valuable scrap, just not priced the same way as the steel grades it often gets lumped in with.
Cast iron carries a higher carbon content than steel, which changes how it's processed, typically through a different remelting route than standard electric arc furnace steel recycling. It's also more brittle to handle. That's a real processing difference, reflected in a lower price than HMS 1 or structural steel, not a sign it's less genuinely recyclable.
The single most common source most people encounter, heavy, dense, and unmistakably cast iron once you know what to look for.
Older cast iron radiators are increasingly rare as aluminium has taken over, making genuine cast iron examples worth checking carefully rather than assuming.
Older plumbing and drainage systems, particularly pre-PVC installations, often used cast iron pipe.
Housings, brackets, and structural components on older industrial equipment, identifiable by their rough, grainy surface finish.
A load mixing cast iron with cleaner steel grades typically prices at whichever component is worth less. Sorting cast iron into its own pile, and stripping non-ferrous attachments like hoses or aluminium brackets off engine blocks first, is worth the extra effort before you list. See our full grading guide for the same principle applied across every material.
Cast iron has a much higher carbon content than steel, which changes how it needs to be processed. It's typically remelted through a different route than standard electric arc furnace steel recycling, and it's more brittle and harder to work with in mixed loads. That processing difference is reflected in the price gap, not a difference in how genuinely recyclable it is.
Cast iron has a distinctive rough, slightly grainy or pitted surface texture compared to the smoother finish of rolled or forged steel, and it's more brittle, it can crack or chip rather than bend under stress. Engine blocks and machinery castings are cast iron more often than not; structural beams and sheet metal almost never are.
Yes, ideally. Mixed loads combining cast iron with steel grades typically price at whichever the lower-value component is, so keeping cast iron in its own pile rather than mixed in with HMS or structural steel is worth the extra sorting effort.
Generally no. Aluminium components, rubber hoses, and other non-ferrous attachments need to be removed before an engine block grades as clean cast iron, otherwise it's priced as a mixed or contaminated load instead.
It moves with the same broader ferrous scrap market as other steel grades, driven by overall steel and foundry demand, though it's a smaller, more specialised segment than mainstream steel grades like HMS.
