A scrapyard is a place where waste metals are taken in order for them to be converted into scrap so that they can be reused for millions of other things. The scrapyard is somewhat of a middle man as they can serve as a collection point of where the scrap is held for refiners to be able to make the scrap into raw metals which can be used for manufacturing.
The first thing scrapyards do when they are scrapping a vehicle is drain all of the vehicle's fluids as they are a health hazard. They will then move on to everything else the vehicle has, including the battery and all the electronics it may have. They check this as if it is still working, they may be able to sell it on or repair it if needed. Once the vehicle is fully stripped and all that is left is the shell, they will then make the metal more compact by using a compactor machine.
Vehicle Scrapping
The first thing scrapyards do when they are scrapping a vehicle is drain all of the vehicle's fluids as they are a health hazard. They will then move on to everything else the vehicle has, including the battery and all the electronics it may have. They check this as if it is still working, they may be able to sell it on or repair it if needed. Once the vehicle is fully stripped and all that is left is the shell, they will then make the metal more compact by using a compactor machine.
Metal sorting
The easiest way a scrapyard will sort out the metal is by using a large magnet to see which metals are attracted to it and which are not. This is because ferrous metals tend to attract to magnets whereas non-ferrous metals do not.
Price of scrap
The price of scrap can vary day-to-day due to supply and demand. Scrapyards may also store a bulk of scrap and save it until the price is higher so that they can get more profit. This would also be a good time for you to sell scrap metal as you would also be getting the highest price that you can.
The price is also determined by how heavy the scrap is, the more it weighs, the more you will be able to sell it for. Another factor that can influence the price is the class of the metal, for example, ferrous and non-ferrous. The most common, high-priced metals would be copper and brass.