Steel scrap metal prices fluctuate significantly, due to both external factors and material grade.  This guide is intended to help you identify your material grade, and to help make our process more transparent.  However, please note that the final call for classification and deductions lies with our salespeople and yard workers.  If you would like assistance with or confirmation of your grade assessment, please give one of our salespeople a call or email your contact information and pictures of the items in question to info@ktrecycling.com.

NOTE:  KT Recycling deals almost exclusively in steel scrap, and while we will accept non-ferrous metals (copper, aluminum, etc.) for disposal, we do not actively trade in the market.   Fundamentally, we believe that being close to a “pure play” ferrous dealer will help us realize better economies of scale, avoid distractions, and let us focus on providing a better customer experience. 

Material Size

Materials, regardless of grade, will always be categorized as prepared or unprepared. Prepared materials take the most effort to produce, and therefore command the highest prices. In order to be considered prepared, the materials must be cut into pieces 3' x 1.5' or smaller. Anything with larger dimensions will be considered unprepared.

Standard Material Grades

There are quite a few standard grades of materials, so we will list them in order of relative value.

As a general rule, we will assign grades by truckload, and will assign the LOWER grade of material if there is a mix (with a few exceptions outlined below). So, for example, a truck load of 30% shred and 70% rebar will be graded as rebar.

Please note that if we have had a chance to view your inventory, we sometimes will offer to use a flat rate (by weight) for all of the material to prevent our clients from having to incur the additional cost and trouble of seperation.

Number One

Number one is primarily heavy structural steel that has a minimum thickness of 1/4''. Examples of this are beams, barjoices, and plates.

Heavy Equipment

Heavy Equipment is a slightly lower grade of number one because of the additional difficulties caused by residual chemicals (particularly hydraulic fluids). Although not a high percent of total weight, proper chemical disposal is time consuming and expensive.

The client is responsible for removing all fuel tanks, and for draining the hydraulic oil out of the equipment before delivery. However, even with proper preparation, you should except some misc. deductions for non-metallic components (glass, plastic, direct, hoses, etc.) and fluid disposal.

Number One and Number Two Mix

We understand that sometimes it can be difficult to completely seperate out number one and number two mix, and will assign this intermediate grade for loads with a roughly even percent of each material type.

Number Two

Number two, also known as shred, is composed of objects with a lower percent of steel by weight. This category would include cars, misc. appliances, tin, etc.

Rebar

Rebar is the steel support rods most typically produced by concrete crushing. It is more difficult to process because it tends to bend when cut, which significantly increases the odds of machine damage. We have modified our processes to reduce the likelyhood of machine damage, which allows us to offer better prices on rebar (and wire) than most of our competitors.

Rebar/Cable/Wire Mix

We understand that given the joint use of rebar and cable/wire in some construction methods, it may be impractical to try to seperate out the different grades. This category has been addeded to give you more flexibility in processing options. In order for a load to be classified as rebar/cable/wire mix, it must contain at least 35% rebar.

Cable and Wire

Cable and wire is the lowest standard grade of material, and is often generated from concrete crushing. This would also include things like chain link fences (single price for the fence + posts), and misc. other forms of steel scrap that many other dealers will not accept.

Specialty Material Grades

There are a few less common materials that we can also accept, like cast iron scrap and turning. If you are trying to dispose of anything in this category, please give us a call to discuss.

Standard Deductions

As is the industry practice, we will add deductions to loads which have non-steel components, or for tanks that have not been prepared for processing. Our most common deductions are for tires (you have the option of removing them yourself), loose concrete, trash, and for tanks that have residual chemicals that need to be disposed of.

NOTE: Our deductions are based on estimates of the total cost of disposal (chemical cleanup, landfill fees, labor, machine stress, idle machines, etc.), not the exact pounds of material, although we do cite the deductions in pounds. For example, we use a standard per-tire rate which is based on our rough historical weight average + the amount of time lost cutting them off + disposal fees.