An unsorted mixed load ran roughly $100 to $200 per ton at US yards in August 2026, while #1 prepared steel averaged $224 per ton and #2 copper averaged $5.08 per pound. Yards price a mixed load at or near its lowest-value component, so a few hundred pounds of tin roofing can drag a whole trailer down to sheet-iron money. In the worked example below, sorting a 3,000-pound cleanout before hauling it was worth $733 more.
| Grade / Item | Low | High | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shred / light iron (yard payout) | $0.04 | $0.10 | USD/lb |
| Shred steel per ton (mill) | $150 | $200 | USD/ton |
| #1 prepared steel (HMS) | $180 | $250 | USD/ton |
| Steel turnings | $90 | $112 | USD/ton |
| Country | Typical Range | Per Tonne | Cur. |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $0.04 – $0.10 /lb | $150 – $200 mill | USD |
| Canada | C$0.05 – C$0.14 /lb | C$190 – C$270 | CAD |
| United Kingdom | £0.06 – £0.16 /kg | £120 – £160 | GBP |
| Germany / EU | €0.07 – €0.19 /kg | €140 – €185 | EUR |
| Australia | A$0.10 – A$0.27 /kg | A$230 – A$310 | AUD |
| India | ₹24 – ₹33 /kg | ₹24,000 – ₹33,000 | INR |
What the yard means by mixed load
These are scale-house words, not chemistry. They describe how your load will be handled and what the sorting will cost the yard.
Mixed load
Anything arriving as one pile of more than one grade. A trailer holding appliances, angle iron, an aluminum storm door and a coil of copper pipe is a mixed load. So is a bucket of brass fittings with steel nipples still threaded in.
Shred (shreddable steel)
Steel thin enough and small enough to go straight into the shredder. Car bodies, appliances, sheet metal, light-gauge tube. iScrap App put the national average at $177.05 per ton on 20 August 2026, down 9.72 percent over the prior 45 days. Yards it tracked that week ran from $140 per ton in Jeffersonville, Indiana to $200 per ton in Rochester, Indiana.
Unprepared
Steel thick enough to be good material but too big to charge into a furnace as delivered — structural beams, farm implements, machine frames. Okon Recycling puts #1 prepared steel at a maximum of about five feet by 18 inches with a minimum quarter-inch wall. Anything over that needs torching or shearing. Scrap Monitor listed unprepared torch-and-shear steel at $190 per ton on 20 August 2026, range $157 to $224.
Irony
Non-ferrous with steel still attached: aluminum wheels with weights and bearing races in, extrusion with steel screws, a radiator in a steel frame. It is discounted because the yard pays someone to remove the iron. On 20 August 2026 Scrap Monitor showed clean 356 auto wheels at $1.19 per pound against $0.89 for dirty or irony wheels. Clean 6063 extrusion was $1.40 against $0.80 dirty.
Tin
Light-gauge coated sheet steel. Roofing panels, ductwork, cans, filing cabinets, siding. One of the lowest ferrous grades because it is mostly air and coating. Scrap Monitor had tin at $179 per ton on 21 August 2026 ($157 to $224); ScrapMetalBuyers listed sheet steel and tin at $100 to $140 per ton on 20 August 2026.
The downgrade rule
The rule is not negotiable at most yards: an unsorted load is priced at or near its lowest-value component. If tin is in the pile, the pile trades near tin. If clean plate arrives with a hundred pounds of ductwork on top, the buyer either makes you pull it or writes the ticket at sheet price.
That is not the yard being difficult. Sorting is labor, and the yard prices in the labor it expects to do. ScrapMetalBuyers said it plainly in its 20 August 2026 note: separating clean plate from sheet and removing non-ferrous attachments typically moves a load up one grade.
- Non-ferrous buried in an iron load gets paid at iron price. Copper worth $5 per pound crosses the ferrous scale at about six cents. Nobody digs through your trailer to find it.
- One bad item redefines the load. A sealed compressor, a propane bottle, a fuel tank or a lead-acid battery can downgrade the whole ticket or get the load rejected.
Mixed and unprepared ferrous rates, August 2026
Sources disagree meaningfully on ferrous, so treat this as a band rather than a price. National index averages sit well above what many yards actually post over the scale.
| Grade | Scrap Monitor US avg (20–21 Aug 2026) | ScrapMetalBuyers range (20 Aug 2026) | Rockaway Recycling posted, NJ (20 Aug 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mixed iron and steel | Not listed | $100–$140/ton | Not listed |
| Shred / light iron | $246/ton ($202–$291) | Not listed | $110/gross ton |
| Unprepared (torch and shear) | $190/ton ($157–$224) | Not listed | Not listed |
| Tin / sheet steel | $179–$190/ton ($157–$224) | $100–$140/ton | Not listed |
| #1 prepared steel (HMS) | $224/ton ($202–$246) | $200–$240/ton | $165/gross ton |
| #2 prepared steel | $202/ton ($179–$224) | $160–$200/ton | Not listed |
| Cast iron | $202/ton ($179–$224) | $160–$200/ton | $165/gross ton |
| Plate and structural | $280/ton ($246–$314) | $200–$240/ton | Not listed |
iScrap App, a third data set, had shreddable steel at $177.05 per ton and light iron at $171.01 per ton on 20–21 August 2026. The honest read: a mixed or unprepared ferrous load in August 2026 is a $100 to $200 per ton conversation, and where you land depends on your yard, volume and region far more than on any index.
Direction matters too. BLDuke reported on 7 August 2026 that the August Chicago settlement moved shredded and heavy melt down $10 per gross ton while busheling held flat and plate and structural stayed steady a fourth straight month. Obsolete grades — where most cleanout loads land — are the ones under pressure.
Non-ferrous benchmarks, August 2026
These are the numbers that make sorting worth doing. Mind the spread: a yard in a strong market pays near the top of these bands, a rural yard near the bottom.
| Grade | Scrap Monitor US avg | iScrap App national avg | Rockaway Recycling, NJ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bare bright copper | $5.25/lb ($5.10–$5.40) | $4.73/lb | $5.55/lb |
| #2 copper | $5.08/lb ($4.90–$5.25) | $4.18/lb | $5.05/lb |
| Yellow brass | Not listed | $2.14/lb | $3.20/lb (plumbing) |
| Clean aluminum sheet | $0.75/lb ($0.70–$0.80) | $0.64/lb | $0.65/lb |
| Cast aluminum | $0.74/lb ($0.65–$0.83) | $0.57/lb | $0.58/lb |
| Clean aluminum wheels (356) | $1.19/lb ($1.05–$1.32) | $0.92/lb | $0.90/lb |
| Irony / dirty aluminum wheels | $0.89/lb ($0.83–$0.95) | Not listed | Not listed |
| Irony and breakage aluminum | $0.50/lb | $0.25/lb (breakage) | Not listed |
| Stainless 304 | Not listed | Not listed | $0.38/lb |
Worked example: 3,000 pounds, sorted against unsorted
A barn and garage cleanout at 3,000 pounds. Ferrous priced on iScrap App and Scrap Monitor national averages for 20–21 August 2026; non-ferrous priced conservatively at the low end of the published bands.
| Material | Weight | Sorted rate | Sorted value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light iron (appliances, brackets, thin sheet) | 2,200 lb | $171/ton | $188.10 |
| Cast iron (tub, radiators, drums) | 400 lb | $202/ton | $40.40 |
| Clean aluminum sheet and extrusion | 250 lb | $0.75/lb | $187.50 |
| Yellow brass fittings and valves | 90 lb | $2.14/lb | $192.60 |
| #2 copper pipe | 60 lb | $5.08/lb | $304.80 |
| Sorted total | 3,000 lb | — | $913.40 |
| Same load unsorted | 1.5 tons | $120/ton mixed | $180.00 |
| Difference | — | — | $733.40 |
The 60 pounds of copper alone is worth more than the entire unsorted load. That is the lesson. A decent yard will flag obvious copper sitting on top, but material buried in a trailer crosses the ferrous scale at ferrous price, and the ticket is final once written.
The same arithmetic runs on pure ferrous. Six tons of mixed unprepared steel at $120 per ton pays $720. The same six tons cut to prepared size and graded #1 at $220 per ton pays $1,320 — a $600 gain that costs you torch gas and most of a day.
Which separations pay the most per minute
Gains below are measured against a mixed ferrous baseline of roughly $0.06 per pound.
| Separation | Gain per pound | Effort | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pull copper out of an iron load | About $5.00 | Seconds per piece | Always do it first |
| Pull brass out of an iron load | $2.08–$3.14 | Seconds per piece | Always |
| Pull aluminum out of an iron load | About $0.69 | Seconds per piece | Always |
| Pull stainless out of an iron load | $0.31–$0.59 | Magnet test, seconds | Always |
| Clean dirty extrusion to 6063 | $0.60 | Minutes per piece | Worth it in any quantity |
| De-iron aluminum wheels | $0.30 | About 2 min per wheel | About $6 per 20-lb wheel |
| Set electric motors aside | About $0.27 | Near zero | Free money |
| Split cast iron from light iron | About $0.016 | Heavy lifting | Only at multi-ton volume |
| Torch unprepared to prepared size | $0.015–$0.025 | Hours, plus gas | Last priority on small loads |
Three rules fall out of that table. Carry a magnet and use it on everything. Keep four buckets going — copper, brass, aluminum, everything else — because separation happens as you pick material up, not later. And call ahead: ask what the buyer calls your material and what he pays before you load, because a grade dispute at the scale is one you lose.
Published averages are reference points, not offers. No yard is obliged to honor an index price, and posted rates change daily. Confirm your grade and your number before you unload.