The price for brass has dropped a little since the beginning of the year, regardless of what type of brass it is. In January and February, the price was £3,000 per tonne for brass cuttings, whereas now it is £2,700 per tonne.
Brass swarf was fetching £2,750 in January per tonne, now it is £2,400; brass and copper radiators were £2,400 per tonne, now the price is £2,000; mixed brass was £2700 per tonne, now it is £2,400; and heavy brass was £2,900 per tonne, now it is £2,600.
With an estimated turnover of between £4 and £5 billion a year, scrap metal has always been one of the most profitable areas when it comes to recycling. It has been estimated by the British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA), the industry’s trade organisation, that 15 million tonnes of metal was recovered in 2006 in the UK alone, and that it was used as a raw material both at home and abroad in many industries, including the automobile.
There are two types of scrap metal: Ferrous, which is steel and iron; and non-ferrous, which includes brass, copper, aluminium and zinc. The source of ferrous metals includes food cans and steel packaging, while non-ferrous metals include most drinks cans.
Recycling metal has been instrumental in helping the UK to work towards some of the European recycling targets that have been set, such as the End-of-Life Vehicle Directive (ELV) and the Packaging Waste Directive.
Despite the size of the industry and the hitherto high prices that scrap metal demanded, global down turn has meant that there has been a drop in the production of cars and other construction industries and so prices and the demand for scrap metal to be used as a raw material have also dropped.
Brass swarf was fetching £2,750 in January per tonne, now it is £2,400; brass and copper radiators were £2,400 per tonne, now the price is £2,000; mixed brass was £2700 per tonne, now it is £2,400; and heavy brass was £2,900 per tonne, now it is £2,600.
With an estimated turnover of between £4 and £5 billion a year, scrap metal has always been one of the most profitable areas when it comes to recycling. It has been estimated by the British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA), the industry’s trade organisation, that 15 million tonnes of metal was recovered in 2006 in the UK alone, and that it was used as a raw material both at home and abroad in many industries, including the automobile.
There are two types of scrap metal: Ferrous, which is steel and iron; and non-ferrous, which includes brass, copper, aluminium and zinc. The source of ferrous metals includes food cans and steel packaging, while non-ferrous metals include most drinks cans.
Recycling metal has been instrumental in helping the UK to work towards some of the European recycling targets that have been set, such as the End-of-Life Vehicle Directive (ELV) and the Packaging Waste Directive.
Despite the size of the industry and the hitherto high prices that scrap metal demanded, global down turn has meant that there has been a drop in the production of cars and other construction industries and so prices and the demand for scrap metal to be used as a raw material have also dropped.
