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Scrap Metal Terms Glossary

Every trade has its own shorthand, and scrap metal is no exception. Here's what the terms you'll see on ScrapTrade, and at any scrap yard, actually mean, in plain English.

General Terms

Scrap Metal: Any metal that's no longer needed in its current form but still has recoverable value, from a single wire offcut to a demolished building's structural steel.
Ferrous / Non-Ferrous: Ferrous metal contains iron and sticks to a magnet (steel, cast iron). Non-ferrous doesn't (copper, aluminium, brass, lead, zinc). See our full guide for detail.
Grade / Grading: Sorting scrap by type and cleanliness before selling. See our grading guide. Higher grades (cleaner, better sorted) sell for more.
Yard: Short for scrap yard: a physical site that buys, sorts, and processes scrap metal from the public and businesses.
Dross: The oxidised waste skimmed off the surface of molten metal during smelting. Technically still contains recoverable metal, but at much lower value.
Turnings / Borings: Metal shavings and curls produced by machining or drilling, common in workshops. Often contaminated with cutting oil, which reduces their grade until cleaned.
Shredder Feed: Mixed metal (often from cars or appliances) sized and prepped to go straight into an industrial shredder rather than being manually sorted first.
Prep: Short for preparation: cutting, stripping, or cleaning scrap before sale to meet a buyer's size or purity requirement, usually in exchange for a better price.
Tare Weight: The weight of a container or vehicle when empty, subtracted from the total weight at the scales to calculate the actual weight of your scrap load.
Spec / Off-Spec: Whether a load meets a buyer's stated grade requirements ('on spec') or doesn't ('off spec'). Off-spec loads are usually priced lower or rejected.

Ferrous Terms

HMS 1 (Heavy Melting Steel 1): Clean, heavy-gauge steel (typically ¼ inch / 6mm and thicker) with no coatings, tin, or galvanising. The top ferrous grade.
HMS 2 (Heavy Melting Steel 2): Similar to HMS 1 but mixed with lighter, thinner, or coated steel. Sells for less than HMS 1 due to the extra processing needed.
Shredded Steel / Shred: Steel (often from cars or appliances) that's already been through an industrial shredder, a consistent, ready-to-melt product mills often prefer.
Structural Steel: Heavy steel from construction: beams, girders, columns, and channels. Usually clean and high-value within the ferrous category.
Light Iron: Thin-gauge steel, such as sheet metal, pressed panels, and appliance skins. Worth less per kilogram than heavy steel due to lower density and more surface contamination.
Cast Iron: A distinct, brittle iron alloy used in engine blocks, pipes, and machinery castings. Usually priced and sorted separately from steel.

Non-Ferrous & Copper Terms

Bare Bright (Copper): The highest copper grade: clean, uncoated, unalloyed wire with no insulation, solder, or oxidation. Commands the top copper price.
Copper #1 / #2: #1 is clean copper tubing or wire with minimal impurity; #2 has some solder, paint, or light oxidation. #1 sells for more than #2.
Insulated Cable / ICW: Copper wire still inside its plastic or rubber insulation. Buyers pay less per kilogram than for bare copper because they need to strip it first.
UBC (Used Beverage Cans): Used aluminium drink cans, usually sold baled (compressed into blocks). One of the most common household non-ferrous scrap items.
Extrusion: Aluminium shaped by being pushed through a die, common in window and door frames. Clean extrusion is a distinct, valuable aluminium grade.
Brass: A copper-zinc alloy found in fittings, valves, and hardware. Non-ferrous, non-magnetic, and priced between copper and aluminium.
Red Brass / Yellow Brass: Sub-grades of brass based on copper content. Red brass has more copper (and is worth more) than yellow brass.
Stainless 304 / 316: Common stainless steel grades. 316 (marine-grade, more corrosion-resistant) typically sells for more than 304. Technically ferrous but only weakly magnetic.

Trading & Business Terms

Reverse Bidding: A seller lists material and multiple verified buyers compete by bidding, rather than one buyer making a single take-it-or-leave-it offer. How ScrapTrade auctions work.
Escrow: Payment held securely by a neutral third party (like ScrapTrade) until both sides confirm a deal is complete, protecting buyer and seller from non-payment or non-delivery.
FOB / CIF: International shipping terms (Incoterms). FOB (Free On Board) means the seller's responsibility ends once goods are loaded for export; CIF (Cost, Insurance, Freight) means the seller also covers shipping and insurance to the destination port.
LME (London Metal Exchange): A major global exchange where benchmark prices for metals like copper and aluminium are set. Many scrap prices worldwide are quoted as a discount or percentage of the relevant LME price.
Price Index: A running, regularly updated set of reference prices for a range of materials, like the ScrapTrade Price Index, used to check an offer against current market rates.

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