About and sources
Ontario Scrap Metal Prices is an independent guide to scrap metal yards in Ontario and what they pay. We don't buy or sell metal, and no yard pays to be listed.
Yard listings
- Yards come from public business listings and each yard's own website. Listings marked "Checked" were compared against the yard's website in October 2026.
- "Buys from the public" is what the yard says on its own site. If it says nothing, we show "Unclear".
- Yards marked "Not verified" haven't been checked yet. Call before you go.
Weekly prices
Every Monday morning an automatic check pulls three public market sources and rebuilds the price pages:
- London Metal Exchange cash settlement prices for copper, aluminium, nickel, lead, zinc and tin, as published by Westmetall.
- The Bank of Canada's daily US dollar exchange rate.
- The US Bureau of Labor Statistics producer price index for iron and steel scrap, for the steel grades.
Each grade is then priced at the share of the exchange price a typical Ontario yard pays. The shares are below. If a week's reading moves more than 25% from the previous week, the check keeps the old number and flags it for a human look, so a broken data feed can't publish a wrong price.
| Grade | Tracks | Share of exchange price |
|---|---|---|
| Bare bright copper | copper × 1 | 87% |
| #1 copper | copper × 1 | 84% |
| #2 copper | copper × 1 | 80% |
| Insulated copper wire (heavy, 70%+) | copper × 1 | 57% |
| Insulated copper wire (light, Romex, cords) | copper × 1 | 36% |
| Yellow brass | copper × 0.62, zinc × 0.38 | 77% |
| Red brass | copper × 0.85, zinc × 0.15 | 76% |
| Copper/brass radiators | copper × 0.55, zinc × 0.2 | 66% |
| Aluminum extrusion | aluminium × 1 | 85% |
| Aluminum sheet and siding | aluminium × 1 | 62% |
| Cast aluminum | aluminium × 1 | 58% |
| Aluminum rims | aluminium × 1 | 80% |
| Aluminum cans | aluminium × 1 | 45% |
| Aluminum radiators | aluminium × 1 | 50% |
| Stainless steel 304 | nickel × 0.085 | 75% |
| Stainless steel 316 | nickel × 0.13 | 100% |
| Soft lead | lead × 1 | 68% |
| Wheel weights | lead × 1 | 14% |
| Car batteries | lead × 1 | 28% |
| Electric motors | copper × 0.1, aluminium × 0.02 | 72% |
| Sealed units / compressors | copper × 0.06 | 55% |
| Light iron / shred | Steel index | 85% |
| #1 heavy melt steel | Steel index | 100% |
| Cast iron | Steel index | 80% |
| Whole vehicles (complete) | Steel index | 88% |
"copper × 0.62, zinc × 0.38" means the grade is priced as an alloy of those metals in those proportions, then the share is applied. Steel grades scale a calibrated Ontario heavy-melt price by the US scrap index.
Always confirm
Prices here are benchmarks, not quotes. Yards set their own rates and can change them daily. Use this site to know what a fair offer looks like, then call. If something's wrong, report a change.