What the yard is paying.

$4.40/lb

Romex or THHN with the insulation pulled, uncoated and unburnt.

Strip it. Insulation drops this to insulated-wire pricing, often less than half.

$4.20/lb

Clean copper water pipe, bus bar, tubing with no solder, paint, or fittings.

Cut off brass valves and steel hangers. Clean pipe is the difference between #1 and #2.

$3.90/lb

Pipe with solder, paint, or a light coating. Burnt wire. Fixture cups.

Still excellent money. Don't throw it in with steel just because it isn't shiny.

$2.20/lb

Window-unit and mini-split condensers with refrigerant recovered. Copper tube in aluminum fins.

Florida yards want proof of ownership and an empty system. Whole charged units are a no.

$3.00/lb

Older valves, some fittings, reddish-gold plumbing parts.

Redder than yellow brass and pays more. Keep it separate if you can tell them apart.

$2.40/lb

Faucets, clean fittings, sprinkler bodies, some door hardware. No steel stems.

Pull the steel. Irony brass is a different, cheaper pile.

$1.10/lb

Window frame, screen frame, some furniture, clean mill profile.

Highest everyday aluminum. Keep steel screws out of it.

$0.65/lb

Siding, cookware, lawn-chair frames, some auto parts, clean cast.

Better than steel by a lot. Don't mix it with cans if you have a real pile of extrusion.

$0.55/lb

Soda and beer cans, crushed, empty, no trash.

Low per pound, easy volume. A troop can drive adds up over a season.

$0.35/lb

Kitchen sinks, some appliances, rail, clean 304. Magnet should barely stick or not at all.

If a magnet grabs hard, it is steel, not stainless.

$0.40/lb

Compressors (oil-drained), washer motors, fan motors, pumps.

Leave them whole unless you like winding copper. The yard prices the copper inside.

$0.10/lb

Appliance shells, rebar, mower decks, file cabinets. No tanks, no closed vessels.

Heavy and cheap. Worth hauling if it is already in the truck. Not worth a special trip.