On 22/01/2010 22:18, JimK wrote:
On Jan 22, 10:13 pm, Dave wrote:
On 22/01/2010 20:39, Bolted wrote:



On 22 Jan, 18:15, Usenet Nutter
wrote:
On Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:10:18 +0000, Dave Osborne

wrote:
Be advised that if you fancy weighing in your copper cables and you
notice that copper wire is £3800/tonne whereas 45% insulated cable is
"only" £1200/tonne don't be tempted to put your cable on the bonfire to
burn the insulation off. It's illegal[1][2] to do so and the recycler
will not be happy either, as he could get into trouble for receiving and
will give you a lower price than you might expect, if anything at all.
Insulated copper wire is recycled *not* by burning, but by grinding the
cables up and floating the plastic off.

So is it illegal to strip it out manually ..albeit possibly
impractical for anyhting less than small amounts .

It's not illegal to strip out manually; just don't set fire to the
insulation or dissolve it off with solvent.

The insulation can go to landfill.
The bright copper wire you strip out will nett you top dollar at the
scrappie.

It just depends what cable you have. If you have a lot of computer cable
(which has very little copper in) be sure to cut the plugs off, but
don't bother to strip it.

If you have offcuts of SWA then strip it manually to separate the steel,
copper and plastics.

You can theoretically weigh the steel in for £120/tonne, but unless
you've got a lot of it (at least 100kg) you'll get practically nowt for it.

Brass is good also. If you're doing any plumbing, keep any taps or
compression fittings as well as copper. You can weigh it all in.

what's brass going in for these days?

JimK

http://www.letsrecycle.com/prices/metals/

Notionally two grand a tonne.