How much stock, regarding cable, do electrical wholesalers waste?

I'm gathering initial market research for a cable recycling company that I’m looking to scale.

I approached an electrical wholesaler based in the UK last week to see if he would let me carry out a survey on his customers (electricians) for my market research. The manager invited me to his warehouse, and we had a good chat. He took me round the back and showed me a huge pile of all sorted cable, all unused and on the reel. He told me it’s all old stock which hasn’t sold over past year and he’ll be taking it to the scrap yard later that day.

I was amazed that so much fresh cable was literally going off the shelf and straight to the scrap yard. It made me realise that wholesalers could be a big supplier for my cable recycling company.

My question is, are there any scrapyards here that have received large quantities of cable from electrical wholesalers that is old stock and hasn’t sold? I’m based in the UK but open to hear if this is common thing globally.

Thanks,

Josh

Yup! In fact just a few minutes ago a customer here in Las Vegas in the US brought in around 800lbs of Cat-5 wire unused and still in boxes. Happens all the time with both copper and aluminum wire. In boxes, on spools, in baggies and every which way. Surplus stock is a good source for recyclable material.

Someone must take quite a loss on this cable

They likely do. Large purchasers probably make enough of a margin on the labor to cover any back end surplus stock ncosts

I guess it's better to have to much stock at the jobsite than not enough...…..Few months ago hauled in over 3000lbs of steel that was over ordered on a job site...…...Probably cost a pretty penny for whoever was running the job but I had no market for it and didn't want to store so off the yard it went...…...

Thanks for your feedback on this guys. I had to remind myself that it’s a shame so must stock had to be wasted just because of a change of brand or a discontinued product line, I guess that’s just retail for you… On the up side, its more fodder for my choppers!

Wonder what the shelf life is for some of this cable...…….I'm sure it deteriorates over time plus regulations change and in the technology world things only get faster so I assume better cabling is needed..

Material degradation is for sure a real thing but, if my workplace was focused on it, selling that cat-5 to someone who'd use it is *easy* and legit. Unused copper cable should be fine for its original use unless stored poorly for quite a long while