Am I braking down my mixed metal too much???

I was wondering if i am wasting my time breaking down things too far? I generally take out every screw and bolt and take off every bit of plastic before i throw it into the trailer with the rest of my tin, and steel. will my scrap yard even care or pay any different if there is a little bit of plastic on the bits of scrap. examples would be printers, and VCR, dvd players etc. i take the plastic off from the case and take out the boards and any scrap that has value over tin or steel what is left over is 99% metal with some plastic. do most yards deduct for that? I know i should call the yard and ask them but I don't want to get an answer from them like $30 a ton for everything because they know I'm a noob. i don't want to spend all day making sure every piece of plastic is off if its only going to net an extra $3 per load.
so far for me if its not aluminum copper brass or stainless it goes into the mixed metal trailer. and i am looking at making about 1 load every 2 weeks of about 1000 to 2000 lbs. of mixed.
thanks

Kennewick, Tri-Cities

My yard will take it if it's 70% metal. The rest can be glass, rubber, plastic, wood, what ever.
I try to keep it at about 90% or better.

the only yard i have dealt with is Twin city metals. the only thing i have sold to them so far is a riding mower but that was before i started scrapping part time. I run a lawn mowing service in the summers and they have alot of scrap mowers I have bought parts off of. There are a couple other yards within a couple miles also. I have not taken my first load in yet of stripped down scrap. I want to fill my trailer first. Mainly doing household appliances and electric motors so far.

Originally Posted by CAPTSCRAPER

My yard will take it if it's 70% metal. The rest can be glass, rubber, plastic, wood, what ever.
I try to keep it at about 90% or better.

do they pay you less for your load if its 70 or 80% vs 90%

not yet, but both are only about 5 miles from my house. and pacific looks to be more of a professional scrap yard with a good website and clean yard. twin city metals has treated me very well as a buying customer though and given me very decent prices on lawnmower parts. a yard in pasco wanted $30 for a carb off a 19.5hp briggs and stratton twin city charged me $5. I will be calling around when i get ready to haul my load in. if twin city is within a reasonable amount of the others I will take it there. I am big on customer service regardless of what industry it is. I have been in retail management for almost 15 years so its kind of a pet peeve of mine. i will go to somewhere and pay an extra 5-10% more for good service. and like wise i will take a little less for my scrap if the yard treats me good. as long as the yard and i both know that is the reason why I am going there. a little give and take on both ends.

I was wondering if i am wasting my time breaking down things too far? I generally take out every screw and bolt and take off every bit of plastic before i throw it into the trailer with the rest of my tin, and steel. will my scrap yard even care or pay any different if there is a little bit of plastic on the bits of scrap. examples would be printers, and VCR, dvd players etc. i take the plastic off from the case and take out the boards and any scrap that has value over tin or steel what is left over is 99% metal with some plastic. do most yards deduct for that?

The yard that I frequent the most lets me mix in some plastic, just depending on the junk. They don't like loose screws, nuts and bolts so I stuff those in microwaves. My plastic I recycle with the city. For example, coffee makers I find a lot of seem to be made more of plastic than any other material. I can't justify breaking down every coffee maker because of its precious metals inside is worth more than being paid for shred. They pay the same amount for shred whether its metal shelving or dvd players. You have to figure out what your time is worth and then decide what items to breaking down that will yield you a higher profit.
When I first started recycling I broke down everything and anything. Then after a few months of this I couldn't keep up with the amount of junk coming in and had to pick and choose what I kept. What I was cashing in hardly paid for my fuel and nothing went towards my time. Unless you have a lot of space, time and a plastic buyer skip breaking down the small stuff.

There is so much you can learn from this website in regards to what you are recycling now. Taking the time to pick through every thread is worth it and can save you from making mistakes that others have. Best of luck!

Hey Storedaddy, I scrap in the tri-cities area also, and I have been going to Pacific for years, they are very easy to talk to . I think up new questions to ask them about every time I go in.Pacific's new yard is pretty nice and easy to use compared to twin's(no flat tires lately).Pacific does shred, unprepared, and prepared .

A majority of the Ferrous material we buy at our yard is graded as Shred. We allow between 10%-20% of a shred load to be waste(plastic, glass, rubber, insulation and the like). If a load appears to have an excessive amount of waste, we may take a weight deduction, but we do not typically change the price per pound except in certain circumstances.

If steel is totally clean you should be able to get paid at a higher grade than basic Shred. A lot of yards separate out steel that is totally clean and call it either Baling or Busheling. If you have steel that is totally clean ask your yard if they pay more for these grades.

By me its Sheet iron