Scrap insulated wire buying in Tennessee, yield first
Some cable is surplus and some is scrap, and the difference is not always visible in a photograph. We draw the line on yield and condition, and we do not call a length stock to win a lot.
Send us your reel list
Six details are enough for a first review: what the cable is, the metal, the size, the footage or reel count, the condition and where it sits. Photographs can follow by text or email. There is no fee and no obligation, and nothing moves until written terms are agreed.
There is a point in every wire inventory where the material stops being stock. Sometimes it is a faded tag, sometimes a checked jacket, sometimes a length too short for anyone to bid. Past that point the cable is scrap, and treating it as inventory only delays the decision and fills the yard. The decision gets easier once someone names the test being applied.
We buy both sides of that line in Tennessee, and we are willing to say which side a lot is on. That is the whole service: an honest split, weighed, with the reasoning attached so you can check it. Where a lot is genuinely mixed, we price both parts instead of averaging them into one figure.
An honest split is worth more to a seller than a flattering number.
Lot basics
- Deciding factor
- Copper yield and condition
- Typical forms
- Mixed insulated, thin wall
- Weighed
- On a certified platform scale
- Alternative
- Recovery at a processor
Where surplus wire stops and scrap begins
Surplus is wire that can still do its job. Scrap is wire that cannot, or cannot be identified well enough for anyone to trust it. The line runs through condition, length and documentation, and it is not a judgement about the seller. Plenty of good material ends up as scrap because nobody kept the tag. The three tests are applied in that order.
We apply the same test to every lot. Is the jacket sound along the run. Is the length usable. Is the construction identifiable. If all three are yes, the material is stock and should be priced as stock. If any one is no, recovery is usually the better answer for both of us. A no on any one of them is a no on stock.
How copper yield is estimated before weighing
Yield is the recoverable copper in a length of insulated wire, expressed as a share of total weight. It varies with conductor size, stranding and insulation wall. Thin-wall building wire and heavily insulated control cable at the same copper size do not return the same amount, and pricing them alike is a mistake. A sample settles more arguments than a table does.
We estimate from the construction rather than from a table alone. A sample length stripped and weighed settles it. Where the lot is large, we take samples from more than one place in the pile, because mixed loads are rarely uniform and the average is what ends up mattering. Two samples from opposite ends of a coil often differ by enough to matter.
When recovery is the right answer
Recovery is right when the cost of sorting and storing exceeds what the material would add as stock. That is common with mixed shorts, damaged cable, sun-cracked reels and anything that cannot be identified. Recovery is not a defeat. It is the correct channel for material that has stopped being inventory. That is a judgement about handling, not about the wire.
Inventory is right when a length can go back into service. A full reel of THHN in a common size, a long tray run with an intact jacket, a coil of USE-2 that never left the shop. Those should not be melted. Selling them as stock returns more than the metal does, and it keeps a usable length in circulation.
Reviewing a scrap lot without overpaying for hope
Send the total weight, the families present and a few photographs. If there are reels, tell us how many still have tags. That combination is enough to say which part of the load we would treat as stock, which as recovery, and roughly how the split falls. Where the load is uniform, one photograph and one weight ticket will usually do.
We will not inflate a scrap lot by pretending part of it is sellable. If the honest answer is that the whole load goes to a processor, you will hear that, along with what the alternative would have been if the material had been kept dry and labeled in the first place. That conversation is more useful while the cable is still on the rack.
Related pages
Questions sellers ask
How do you decide if a reel is surplus or scrap?
We look at the tag, the jacket and the length. A tagged reel with a sound jacket and a usable remaining length is surplus. A reel with a faded tag, a checked jacket or a short remaining length is usually scrap. The tag matters because it is what lets the next buyer trust the reel.
Does copper yield change with insulation type?
Yes, and substantially. A thin-wall building wire returns a higher share of its weight as copper than a heavily insulated control cable of the same conductor size. That is why we ask for the construction rather than just the weight, and why a blended rate on a mixed load has to be conservative.
Can I sell scrap wire and stock wire in the same load?
Yes, and it is common. We separate the load at our yard and account for each part. You see the weights and the basis for each group. Keeping them in separate bins before pickup makes the accounting faster but does not change the outcome. The split is shown on the ticket, group by group.
What should I do with wire I cannot identify?
Include it in the scrap group and tell us it is unidentified. We will sample it. Some of it will turn out to be worth more than scrap, and when that happens we will price it that way. The mistake is to guess upward on material nobody can verify. A guess in either direction is worse than a sample.
Send us your reel list
Six details are enough for a first review: what the cable is, the metal, the size, the footage or reel count, the condition and where it sits. Photographs can follow by text or email. There is no fee and no obligation, and nothing moves until written terms are agreed.
Unsure which pile it belongs in?
Send the weight, the families and the tag count. We will split the load into stock and recovery and show the basis.
Tennessee only · statewide pickup planning