Rob from Las Vegas Now in Tucson. Grateful for any advice from members.

My initial motive for joining was to find the best price paid in Tucson for aluminum cans. Then
I thought of all the guys I've met over years who did other metals/materials and wondered how much $$$ i've ignored.
I used to get a buck a pound for cans and $0.40 for plastic. I started ignoring the plastic. I recently had to tear down (to make it disposable) a box spring from a bed, were those springs made from a steel that I could have sold?
is one metal/material easier (profitable) to collect than cans? Thanks in advance for any help.

I'd still appreciate the best place for cans though.

X:recycle:X:recycle:

Welcome to SMf from tumbleweed country. The most successful in this business are diversified and ready to switch gears in an instant to maximize profits. Read some of the old threads and you will see how some have raised a family and provided for their retirement through this lifestyle. Good luck to you.

Hi and welcome all metal is worth while I think I'm stripping every thing I get now takes me a bit longer but I have a full time job and do scrap on the side.If u can get enough of any one thing then in my eyes its a good thing.


Theres a bed shop near me and they throw all there old mattresses away to go to land fill now theres 10kg upwards of metal in a double mattress takes about 10mins to strip them but with today's market I would only net about 50 pence here in the uk.


You just have to think is it worth it to you for me it would as I'm only a small operation I store my scrap till I have a good load to take in I keep all my ali copper bras in buckets and take them in once a year as a nice bonus near Christmas.


What works for you won't always work for others just keep up the good work and happy scrapping.

I collect anything I can turn in for cash. Some things take longer than others to accumulate. I basically build up a cache of material until I get sick of looking at it and take it in and cash it out. Steel seems to be the material I build up the fastest as the debris from processing for more value dense materials. A microwave nets a coil (copper and aluminum coils- two copper if lucky, two aluminum if unlucky) and insulated copper wiring, a glass turntable to sell on ebay, and a steel carcass. A washing machine nets a motor, insulated copper wire and a huge heavy steel carcass. Brass also seems to build pretty quickly for me. Aluminum cans builds to the point I have to go about two to three months, but will generally build enoough to get included with another load. Steel will generallt build to the point it has to go and other materials will be included with the steel load. All in all, I take a load about once a month.