Old Wires Can Make You Money Too

Wire is the most misunderstood item in household scrap.

People hand over a bundle of old wiring, cables and dead chargers expecting one flat "wire rate" and are then confused when different bundles fetch very different amounts. The confusion comes from a wrong assumption at the start.

Wire has no rate of its own. What's being bought is the metal running through the middle of it. The plastic sheathing on the outside is worth almost nothing it's weight that has to be stripped away and discarded before the metal can be recycled. So the question is never "what's the wire rate." It's "what metal is inside this wire, and how much of the weight is actually that metal."

How Wire Is Checked and Priced

Two wires may look similar from the outside but have very different scrap values.

At ScrapUncle, wires are checked according to the metal present inside them. If the eligible material contains a higher-value metal such as copper, brass or aluminium, its value is assessed accordingly rather than treating every wire as the same category.

For reference, ScrapUncle currently lists these metal scrap rates:

• Copper - ₹505/kg
• Aluminium - ₹112/kg
• Brass - ₹325/kg

*These are current listed rates for the respective metal categories, not guaranteed rates for every wire. The final value of wire scrap depends on its material, composition, insulation and the recoverable metal identified during collection. Rates may also vary by location and market conditions.

You can always check the latest prices on the ScrapUncle Scrap Rates page.

Don't Burn the Insulation

Worth saying plainly, because it still happens.

Burning wire to expose the copper is a bad idea on every count. It releases genuinely toxic fumes, it's illegal and it damages the metal burnt copper is downgraded and fetches less than clean copper, so the whole exercise loses money as well as being dangerous. Bring the wire as it is. Assessment and stripping happen properly at the processing end, and you get paid on the metal content either way.

Got a Box Full of Old Wires? Add Them to Your Next Scrap Pickup

During house cleaning, renovation or shifting, collect your unused electrical wires, cables and other eligible metal scrap instead of putting them in the dustbin.

You can schedule a ScrapUncle doorstep scrap pickup and add newspapers, cardboard, plastic, metals, appliances and other eligible recyclables from your home at the same time. ScrapUncle offers doorstep collection and calculates payments according to the type and weight of scrap collected.

The value is not just in the wire it’s in the metal inside it.