Editing Scrap (section)

==Processing==
[[File:autowreckers.jpg|thumb|The "organized chaos" of a scrapyard]]
Scrap metal originates both in business and residential environments. Typically a "scrapper" will advertise their services to conveniently remove scrap metal for people who don't need it.

Scrap is often taken to a [[wrecking yard]] (also known as a scrapyard, junkyard, or breaker's yard), where it is processed for later melting into new products. A wrecking yard, depending on its location, may allow customers to browse their lot and purchase items before they are sent to the [[smelting|smelters]], although many scrap yards that deal in large quantities of scrap usually do not, often selling entire units such as [[engine]]s or [[machinery]] by weight with no regard to their functional status. Customers are typically required to supply all of their own tools and labor to extract parts, and some scrapyards may first require waiving [[legal liability|liability]] for [[personal injury]] before entering. Many scrapyards also sell bulk metals ([[stainless steel]], etc.) by weight, often at prices substantially below the retail purchasing costs of similar pieces.

A [[scrap metal shredder]] is often used to recycle items containing a variety of other materials in combination with steel. Examples are automobiles and white goods such as refrigerators, stoves, clothes washers, etc. These items are labor-intensive to manually sort things like plastic, copper, aluminum, and brass. By shredding it into relatively small pieces, the steel can easily be separated out magnetically. The non-ferrous waste stream requires other techniques to sort.

In contrast to wrecking yards, scrapyards typically sell everything by weight, instead of by item. To the scrapyard, the primary value of the scrap is what the smelter will give them for it, rather than the value of whatever shape the metal may be in. An auto wrecker, on the other hand, would price exactly the same scrap based on what the item does, regardless of what it weighs. Typically, if a wrecker cannot sell something above the value of the metal in it, they would then take it to the scrapyard and sell it by weight. Equipment containing parts of various metals can often be purchased at a price below that of either of the metals, due to saving the scrapyard the labor of separating the metals before shipping them to be recycled.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Comprehensive Guide to Scrap Processing |url=https://botanyscrapmetal.net/comprehensive-guide-to-scrap-processing/}}</ref>

[[File:Day 56 - West Midlands Police tackling metal theft.jpg|thumb|British police investigating possibly-stolen metal at a scrapyard]]
Thieves sometimes sell stolen items to scrapyards. Copper pipes and wiring, bronze monuments and [[siding (construction)|aluminium siding]] have all been targets of [[metal theft]], with the number of thefts increasing as prices rise.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.usnews.com/news/national/articles/2008/03/27/price-hikes-lead-to-rash-of-metal-thefts |title=Price Hikes Lead to Rash of Metal Thefts |last=Schwartz |first=Emma |date=27 March 2008 |website=U.S. News & World Report |access-date=12 June 2020}}</ref> [[Manhole covers]] have also been stolen.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3440451.stm |title=China manhole thefts prove deadly |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=29 January 2004 |publisher=BBC News |access-date=12 June 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/oct/25/ukcrime.prisonsandprobation |title=Manhole covers vanish in the night  |last=Muir |first=Hugh  |date=25 October 2004 |website=The Guardian |access-date=12 June 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/10-000-manhole-covers-vanish-fingers-pointed-at-growing-craze-for-drugs-snap-lottery/cid/1108654 |title=10,000 manhole covers vanish – Fingers pointed at Growing craze for Drugs, SNAP lottery |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=7 September 2004 |website=The Telegraph |location=Kolkata  |access-date=12 June 2020}}</ref> In the 1970s, the term "newsjacking" was coined to describe the theft of newspapers for sale to scrap dealers.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://languages.oup.com/2017-shortlist/ |title=Word of the Year 2017: Shortlist |author=<!--Not stated-->  |website=Oxford Languages |publisher=0 Oxford University Press |access-date=12 June 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.lexico.com/definition/newsjacking |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200612045400/https://www.lexico.com/definition/newsjacking |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 12, 2020  |title=Meaning of newsjacking in English |author=<!--Not stated-->  |date=2020 |website=Lexico |publisher=Oxford University Press/Dictionary.com |access-date=12 June 2020}}</ref>