Scrap metal removal across the Golden Isles.

Scrap metal is one of those categories where customers often think “I’ll take it to the recycler myself” — and then don’t, for a year, sometimes longer. The pile in the corner of the garage grows. Old fencing from the back yard, the broken push mower, the defunct exercise equipment, an empty water heater, a steel cabinet that came out during a remodel. We make the trip. We sort the loads. The aluminum goes to one recycler, the steel to another, and we offset some of the cost from what the recyclers pay us by weight. Most customers don’t know that’s even an option.

The most common call is the garage cleanout where metal items have accumulated over years. Estate cleanouts produce metal in volume — basements and garages of long-time residents are often the highest-density metal scrap on the property. Property cleanouts after construction projects (framing scraps, leftover steel studs, copper pipe cutoffs). Hobbyist cleanups where customers gathered scrap intending to make the recycler trip themselves. Hurricane and storm cleanups produce twisted metal in volume — bent fence sections, water-damaged appliances, mangled outdoor equipment.

Operationally, scrap metal is generally lighter weight per volume than other categories — mostly hollow steel, aluminum, copper wire, brass fittings rather than dense items. Sorting matters for recycler routing and pricing. Ferrous metals (steel, iron) go to one recycler at one price; non-ferrous metals (aluminum, copper, brass, stainless) go to another recycler at higher per-pound rates. Copper specifically — copper pipe, copper wire, copper bus bars — is the highest-value scrap and we keep it separated during the load.

Items with hazardous components don’t move as scrap metal. Refrigerators with refrigerant route through certified appliance recyclers (refrigerant recovery comes first). Gas tanks, oil drums, and fuel containers don’t go in the scrap load — those need specialty disposal. Pure scrap (clean steel cabinets, aluminum extrusions, copper wire, brass plumbing fittings) is the fastest disposal at the cleanest pricing.