Berkeley

Wire (bare, not plastic coated, not insulated)

Recycle

Instructions

Any all metal wire or cable (no plastic covering or insulation) can be recycled, so place it in the blue recycling cart. If you have a large amount, it may even have a buy-back value, as scrap metal. Take it to any of several scrap metal yards in the East Bay. You would usually need a large quantity, since it will need to be weighed at a scale, if you expect to be paid. DO NOT PUT WIRE HANGERS IN THE blue recycling cart. See 'wire hangers' for proper disposal information.

Alternatives

Repair and reuse the wires or cables if possible.

Facts

Many metals can be recycled – and in some cases, actual recycling rates are already high. For example, 67% of scrap steel, more than 60% of aluminium and 35% of copper (45-50% in the EU) (pdf) is already recycled. Apart from resource savings, there is often also a net energy benefit. Energy accounts for 30% of primary aluminium production costs (mining and processing), but recycling of aluminium scrap uses only 5% of the energy of primary production.

Learn More