If you are recycling copper for the first time, you might be uncertain of how copper recycling works or what you can expect to get out of it. The following are six things to be aware of when you recycle copper.

Scrap copper is categorized into different grades.

When you're recycling copper scrap, it's good to be aware of the grade of copper that you have. The grade determines the value of the copper. Sorting your copper by grade helps out when you get to the recycling facility. 

Basic grades of copper include bare bright, number one, and number two copper. Bare bright copper is the highest grade and most valuable of all types of scrap copper. 

Recycling copper rather than producing new copper saves energy.

In addition to helping you to earn money, recycling copper is also good for the environment. Recycling copper makes copper available at only 10 percent the energy expenditure of extracting copper ore to produce new copper. 

Copper is one of the most valuable scrap metals.

If you have copper pieces that you want to recycle, you'll be happy to know that copper is one of the most valuable of all recycled scrap metals.

There is a lot of money in recycling copper scrap, so you should never make the mistake of throwing away old equipment pieces that contain even small amounts of copper. 

Copper has been recycled by humanity for thousands of years.

Recycling copper is nothing new. Humanity has always seen the value in copper and used copper in the production of a wide variety of utensils, tools, and machinery. It is estimated that humanity has been salvaging copper and recycling it for more than 10,000 years. 

Copper is a non-ferrous metal.

Anyone who is recycling scrap metal should learn the distinction between ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Ferrous metals contain iron and non-ferrous metals do not contain iron. When you recycle your metals, you may be expected to separate them according to whether they are ferrous or non-ferrous.

You can distinguish ferrous from non-ferrous metals by using a magnet. If a magnet does not show any attraction to a metal, it is non-ferrous. However, a magnet will be attracted to a ferrous metal. 

Separating copper from other metals can increase its value when recycled.

Not only should you separate ferrous and non-ferrous metals, but you should also separate out your copper. If you do the separating yourself, you know how much of each type of metal you have and approximately how much you should get for recycling your metals.