AA CopperRecycling Call 0435 805 124

For solar installers

Scrap collection for solar installers.

Solar is a young enough trade that most installers have never set up a scrap arrangement. Meanwhile aluminium rail offcuts, DC cable ends and old inverters stack up in the yard, all of it worth money and all of it currently going out as waste.

  • Aluminium rail
  • DC cable by grade
  • Inverters taken
  • Cages for the yard
Call 0435 805 124 Request a collection

Every solar job produces the same three things: rail offcuts, cable ends and, on an upgrade, the whole old system coming down. Rail is aluminium, cable is copper, and both are worth collecting. Right now most of it is going into general waste because nobody has put a bin in the right place.

What we buy

  • Aluminium mounting rail and offcuts. Every array leaves ends behind. Clean extruded aluminium, good rate, and it stacks neatly.
  • Racking, feet, clamps and tilt frames. Mixed aluminium and stainless fixings.
  • DC cable offcuts. Insulated copper, bought on copper content. Solar cable has a thick sheath, so check whether stripping is worth it before you commit time to it.
  • AC cable and conduit. Off the switchboard side of the job.
  • Old inverters. Transformers and heatsinks inside, so there is copper and aluminium in there.
  • Old panels and frames. Ring first. The aluminium frame is the scrap value, and the rest of the panel is a different conversation.
  • Old hot water systems. Solar hot water replacements leave a tank behind, and some have a copper cylinder.

Rates

MetalPrice per kg
Copper (clean/bare)$14.00 to $18.00
Brass$7.50 to $12.00
Insulated / wire & cable$4.60 to $9.50
Aluminium$0.90 to $3.00
Stainless steel$0.45 to $0.90
Electric motors$1.20 to $1.50
Compressors (black)$1.00 to $1.20
Radiators (copper & brass)$7.00 to $9.00

Indicative rates, the same ones on the home page. Metal markets move every week, so ring 0435 805 124 for the exact figure before you load up.

Aluminium is a modest rate per kilo, so the money here comes from volume. An installer doing several jobs a week accumulates rail faster than they expect, and a cage in the yard turns it into a regular payment rather than a pile.

Upgrades are the good jobs

A system replacement is the best scrap job in solar. The old array comes down as frames, rail, cable and an inverter all at once, which is a proper load rather than a handful of offcuts. If you have a run of upgrades booked, tell us in advance and we will schedule collection around them.

How to set it up

  1. Tell us your yard suburb and roughly how many installs a week.
  2. We drop a cage for rail and a second for cable.
  3. Crews tip offcuts into the cages at the end of each job instead of into the site bin.
  4. Ring when full, or set a standing day.
  5. Weighed by type on site, paid to the business by EFT.

Related

Questions we get asked

Do you buy solar panels themselves?

Ring and ask. The aluminium frame has scrap value. The panel itself is not straightforward scrap, so we talk about those case by case rather than promising a rate.

Is solar DC cable worth stripping?

Often not. The sheath is thick relative to the conductor, so the time rarely pays unless you have a stripping machine and real volume.

Do you take old inverters?

Yes. There is copper and aluminium inside and we buy them per kilo.

Can you collect from a job site?

Yes, across metro Adelaide and the regional centres, provided there is an address and access.

Rail and cable stacking up?

Tell us roughly how much and where the yard is. We will quote a rate and get cages to you.

Call 0435 805 124