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Commercial metal recycling services
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Our commercial metal recycling collection
Managing metal waste efficiently doesn’t need to be time-consuming or expensive. Our commercial metal recycling service delivers reliable collections at competitive prices.
Start today by entering your postcode above to arrange a commercial metal recycling collection in your area.
Nationwide service coverage
We provide commercial metal recycling services across Britain, supporting businesses of all sizes with dependable metal waste collections wherever they operate.
Trusted providers
We only work with established commercial waste experts to ensure your business receives a high-quality service from experienced local providers.
Competitive pricing and a custom quote
Our tailored quotes are designed to meet your specific waste requirements and budget. You get the best value for your commercial metal recycling without compromising on service reliability.
How to arrange a commercial metal recycling service
Businesses in manufacturing, construction, hospitality and facilities management generate valuable metal waste that needs to be collected and recycled efficiently. A reliable commercial metal recycling service reduces hassle, keeps your site compliant and helps control waste costs.
Here is how to get started.
Enter your postcode
Enter your postcode above and tell us about your business metal recycling needs, including the volume of metal waste you produce and how often you need collections.
Review your quote
Our experts will prepare a tailored quote based on your location, collection frequency and the metal grades you need to recycle.
Sign your contract
Once you are happy with the quote, sign your commercial waste contract to activate your service and schedule your collections.
Commercial metal recycling costs
The cost of commercial metal recycling varies because every business produces different types and volumes of metal waste. Prices depend on what you generate, how often you need collections and the recycling options available in your area.
Below are the key factors affecting commercial metal recycling costs.
Types of metal waste
Commercial metal waste includes ferrous and non-ferrous metals, electronic metal waste and mixed metal loads. Each type needs different handling and processing. Clean, separated metals are usually cheaper to collect and recycle than mixed or contaminated loads.
Volume and weight of metal waste
Most recycling providers set prices based on how much metal you produce. Businesses generating regular volumes often benefit from scheduled collections with lower rates, while occasional collections can be more expensive on a per-visit basis.
Location and distance to recycling facilities
Collection prices can vary depending on how far your business is from the nearest recycling facility or transfer station. Areas with several metal recycling operators can have lower prices due to increased choice, while rural sites may pay more due to transport time.
Service level required
Some businesses need a simple metal collection, while others require more specialist services for items such as electronic equipment or mixed metal loads that must be sorted. These additional handling requirements can increase costs.
Disposing of metal waste
Businesses have a duty of care to manage their waste responsibly and follow the waste hierarchy, which places recycling above disposal. Most metal waste in Britain can be recycled, so it is important to ensure it is segregated from other waste streams.
Metal items placed in general waste increases commercial waste costs. Landfill tax applies to any waste sent for disposal, and metal is dense, so even small amounts can add significant weight to commercial waste collections. This provides a strong financial incentive for businesses to separate metal waste and use a dedicated commercial metal recycling service.
Metals that enter general waste are either sent to landfill or processed through energy recovery facilities. In the case of energy recovery, some metals can still be recovered from the remaining ash because metals have high melting and boiling points. However, this is far less efficient than recycling clean metal waste at the point of disposal.
Can metal be recycled?
Metals are among the most recyclable materials available because of their unique properties (they can all be melted), our long history in metallurgy (we have thousands of years of experience processing metals) and their scarcity.
Both ferrous metals (like steel and iron) and non-ferrous metals (such as aluminium, copper, brass, and stainless steel) can be recycled multiple times without losing their properties and under a similar metal recycling process.
However, the recyclability of metal products varies. Those containing metal alloys (i.e. a mixture of multiple metals), hazardous metals (i.e. mercury, lead) or simply those that are hard to segregate are more difficult to recycle than metal products made predominantly from a single metal.
Here’s a list of common metal items by their Recyclability Score (Arbitrary score where 5 = easiest to recycle, 1 = hardest to recycle)
Easy-to-recycle metals products
| Product | Recyclability |
|---|---|
| Aluminum cans | Poster boy of metal recycling. Highly efficient recycling process that is highly segregated at source. |
| Steel cans | Commonly used in food packaging, magnetic separation simplifies recycling significantly. |
| Copper wiring | High value and demand for recycling. Slightly more labour intensive to collect, sort and strip wiring. |
| Brass fixtures | Valuable and easy to segregate. Recycling is straightforward but requires separation from other metals in fixtures. |
| Stainless steel appliances | Widely recyclable and retains value |
Hard-to-recycle metals products
| Product | Recyclability |
|---|---|
| Metallic packaging (composites) | Challenging to recycle because the metals are fused together. Requires high-energy, specialised processes. |
| Electronics with rare metals | Small quantities and diversity of metals requires specialised sorting and recycling technologies. |
| Coated or painted metals | More expensive because coatings or paint need to be removed, often manually, before recycling. |
| Aerosol cans | May contain residual hazardous chemicals and requires de-pressurisation. |
| Alkaline batteries | Small quantities and diversity of metals, and handling of hazardous chemicals. |
How much metal waste is recycled in the UK?
According to the BMRA, the UK annually recycles around 10 million tonnes of ferrous metal (such as steel and iron) and around 1 million tonnes of non-ferrous metal (such as aluminium, copper, and brass).
While there are no official estimates of this metal’s provenance, our waste experts have made a back-of-the-envelope estimate based on their experience.
| Source of metal waste | Estimates (%) |
|---|---|
| Industrial scrap | 40-50% |
| End-of-Life Vehicles (ELVs) | 25-30% |
| Construction and demolition | 10-15% |
| Electronics and electrical equipment (WEEE) | 5-10% |
| Packaging | 5-10% |
| Domestic | 5-10% |
| Utilities and infrastructure (e.g. pipes, cables) | 5-10% |
| Marine and aerospace | 1-2% |
The metal recycling process in the UK
Metal waste goes through several specialist stages to transform it back into usable material. Each stage is handled by a different part of the recycling chain. The overview below explains how business metal waste is collected, sorted, processed and turned back into new products.
Metal waste collection
Who handles this: Commercial waste collectors
Businesses generate metal waste from construction, manufacturing, maintenance and day-to-day operations. Collection companies provide commercial waste bins for metal and scheduled or ad hoc collections, transporting metal waste to the next stage of the recycling process.
Collections may be part of a dry mixed recycling service, a dedicated metal recycling service or a single metal collection for businesses producing a high volume of one material such as copper or aluminium.
The right service for your business depends on:
- The amount of metal waste you produce
- How often you need collections
- Whether your metal waste is mixed or separated
- Metal pre-processing
Metal pre processing
Who handles this: Scrap yards
After collection, metal waste is delivered to scrap yards where it is prepared for smelting. This stage includes:
Reception and sorting: Large or unsuitable items are removed, and metals are separated into different groups.
Cutting and size reduction: Oversized items are cut or crushed to manageable sizes.
Shredding and separation: Shredding breaks the metal into smaller pieces, which can then be separated using magnetic, manual or density based methods.
Some materials, such as electronic equipment and batteries, are sent to specialist facilities because they contain complex metal combinations or components requiring separate treatment.
Melting and purification
Who handles this: Smelters and refiners
Once sorted, metal is sent to smelters where it is melted in large furnaces. Each furnace is designed for specific metal types to maintain quality.
After melting, the liquid metal goes through purification. This removes contaminants and ensures the final material meets strict quality standards. Purified metal is then formed into ingots, bars, sheets or other raw material formats.
New metal products
Who handles this: Manufacturers
Purified metal is supplied to manufacturers to create new products. Recycled metals are used in construction, transport, packaging, engineering and electrical manufacturing. Some processed metals remain in the UK and some are exported to global markets.
Recycling metal significantly reduces the energy required and forms part of the circular economy. This efficiency is one of the main reasons businesses benefit from separating metal waste for recycling.
Factors that impact business metal recycling performance
The UK is a global leader in metal recycling, but still faces significant challenges in reaching 100% metal recycling rates. Here are five important factors impacting metal recycling for businesses:
Contamination
Contamination is one of the main issues businesses face when recycling metal. Many products contain mixed materials or small metal parts embedded within plastics or electronics. This reduces the quality of recovered metal and increases processing time.
Paint and coatings can also complicate recycling. While modern blasting methods help remove coatings more efficiently, large-scale decontamination still adds cost.
Technological limits
Recycling facilities rely on accurate sorting, reliable pre-processing and efficient metal handling. Some sites still operate older systems that cannot fully separate complex metal items, which affects recovery rates. Advances in sorting and pre-processing technology are expected to improve metal recycling efficiency over time.
Market changes
The value of recycled metal is closely tied to global supply and demand. Shifts in manufacturing, raw material availability or international markets can influence both the cost of recycling and the level of investment in new recycling infrastructure. These changes can affect how businesses manage and price their metal waste.
Regulatory pressure
Businesses and recycling operators must follow strict waste and environmental regulations. Managing emissions, treating wastewater and handling complex waste streams requires investment and can be challenging for some operators. Compliance remains essential, but it can influence the cost and availability of metal recycling services.
Low business awareness
Many small and medium-sized businesses are not fully aware of their responsibilities under commercial waste regulations. This often leads to metal entering general waste, increasing disposal costs and risking non-compliance. As regulations become stricter, awareness and correct separation are expected to improve, helping businesses increase recycling rates.
Commercial metal recycling – FAQs
Our business waste experts answer commonly asked questions on metal recycling in the UK.
How long have we been recycling metal?
Metals are among the most recyclable materials available because of their unique properties and usefulness to society.
Humans have been practising metallurgy (i.e., separating metals from ore, forging new metal composites, recycling waste metal tools) since at least the Bronze Age, which started 5,000 years ago. During this period, humans began re-melting tools, weapons, and jewellery and minting coins from recycled metal in a prolific fashion.
More specifically, scrap yards took off during the 19th-century industrial revolution in the UK, with unprecedented amounts of metal waste generated from manufacturing, production, construction, etc. During WW1, scrap metal became paramount, with metal waste being collected from the battlefield and turned into military equipment.
How many metal recycling facilities are there in the UK?
We have not been able to find exact numbers, as these include small, family-owned scrap yards and large corporations. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents over 250 member companies, including many of the metal recycling facilities in the UK. You can find a comprehensive list of all recycling facilities here.
Are scrap yards considered metal recycling facilities?
Yes, a scrap yard is referred to as a metal recycling facility. However, only a part of the recycling process which sorts and prepares metal recycling before it is sold to smelters, refiners and manufacturers, who then do the metallurgical recycling.
Is metal theft common in the UK?
Metal theft has been a significant issue in the UK, particularly when metal prices are high. Metals like copper, lead, and aluminium are often targeted due to their value. Incidents of metal theft have included stealing copper cables from railway lines, lead from church roofs, and bronze statues from public spaces.
This issue still exists but has been dampened through the Scrap Metal Dealers Act in 2013, which prohibited cash payments for scrap metal and a record-keeping requirement.
Who are the top metal recycling firms in the UK?
Our business waste experts have summarised a list of top three metal recycling firms in the UK:
- S Norton & Co Ltd: This company has been in the business for over 50 years and operates in Liverpool and Manchester.
- European Metal Recycling (EMR): One of the largest metal recyclers in the UK with numerous sites across the country, known for recycling ferrous and non-ferrous metals.
- C F Booth Ltd: Based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, they are one of the UK’s largest independently owned recycling companies.