Learn / Ferrous vs Non-Ferrous
Ferrous metal contains iron and sticks to a magnet: think steel and cast iron. Non-ferrous metal doesn't contain iron and won't stick: copper, aluminium, brass, lead, and zinc. That one distinction is the single biggest factor in what a given piece of scrap is actually worth.
Any fridge magnet works. Hold it against the metal. If it sticks, you're almost certainly holding ferrous metal (steel or iron). If it doesn't stick, it's very likely non-ferrous. It's not a perfect test (some stainless steel is only weakly magnetic), but it correctly sorts the vast majority of household and job-site scrap in seconds.
Contains iron. Magnetic. Abundant, and the cheapest category to recycle, so it's priced lower per kilogram than almost anything non-ferrous.
Common examples
Steel beams and sheet, car bodies, old appliances (white goods), cast iron pipes and engine blocks, structural steel, HMS (heavy melting steel).
No iron. Not magnetic (with some stainless exceptions). More expensive to originally produce from ore, so recycled material holds significantly more value.
Common examples
Copper wire and pipe, aluminium cans and extrusions, brass fittings, lead, zinc, and stainless steel (a special, higher-value case).
Iron is one of the most abundant metals on Earth and cheap to mine and process, so ferrous scrap stays inexpensive even recycled. Copper, aluminium, and the other non-ferrous metals are scarcer and far more energy-intensive to produce from raw ore, so recycled non-ferrous scrap keeps a much larger share of that original value. In practice, a kilogram of clean copper wire is routinely worth ten times or more than a kilogram of ordinary steel. That's exactly why sorting the two apart before you sell matters so much. Check today's prices for both categories to see the gap for yourself.
Technically ferrous (it's a steel alloy, mostly iron), but many stainless grades are only weakly magnetic or barely magnetic at all due to their nickel and chromium content, so the magnet test isn't reliable for it. Stainless is usually graded and priced separately from ordinary ferrous steel because it's worth considerably more.
Mainly supply and processing cost. Non-ferrous metals like copper and aluminium are less abundant in the ground and more energy-intensive to originally produce from ore than iron, so recycled non-ferrous material saves more relative cost and stays more valuable. Ferrous scrap is abundant and cheap to reprocess, which keeps its price much lower per kilogram.
You can bring them in together, but expect a yard to sort them before pricing, or to price the load at the lower ferrous rate if it's too mixed to separate efficiently. Sorting them yourself first, even roughly with a magnet, usually gets you more money overall.
Walk it with a magnet and pull anything that doesn't stick into a separate pile. It won't be perfect (some coated or thin steel can behave oddly), but it takes minutes and immediately separates your load into two categories worth pricing very differently.
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