New to online, not to scrapping.

Hi all, I mainly found this forum because I have a bigger project I'm getting started on scrapping wise and was looking for advice.
I am from Ohio and my name is Alex.

Figured I might as well post this q here and maybe in the tips and advice.



I can get about 15k lbs of ground telephone wire. I've gotten a few samples and the copper and plastic are fairly similar in size, the plastic is only a little bit bigger. I want to find a way to separate it, but haven't really taken on a task this big before. I will be paying about $.03/lb. I'm mainly looking to maximize my profit, which would be separate the copper from the plastic. If you guys have any tips/advice I'm more the asking to hear them. Thank you in advance, Alex.

Welcome to the forum.

There are a lot of different ways to separate the material, physically or chemically. But, would it be worth doing yourself? Probably not...I would find somewhere to sell the material as-is. I think telephone wire runs about 1/3 copper so you have 5,000 pounds of copper there possibly...mixed with a lot of plastic.

Thanks for the quick reply Ryan. I was thinking the same thing as you, and thanks for the info, as I did not know there could be that much copper in there. I am thinking about sorting around a pound of it to see what percentage is copper and just multiply it by the lot to give me a general idea. Definitely going to visit some recycling centers to see what they'll offer me for the mixed material.

I've got 3 samples from the other party, he wrote down what type of plastic it is, or something. I'll check to see what information is written and then I'll post back.

Welcome, Alex, from Cincy.

15k of phone wire...me, I would negotiate a deal with a buyer and flip it. Then, spend alllllllllllllllllllll that time you were going to spend, trying to max profit on that wire, and READ READ READ this forum! I will guarantee you this, you will profit MUCH MORE doing that, then trying to mess with all that wire. Now, that is just my 2, that may be worth 222, after over a year of READING READING READING, and then APPLYING... everything I have learned, in-between my naps, from this forum!

I am sure there will be some who differ. I will check back after my next nap and see!

Good luck! BroJer

Thanks BroJer! Nice to see such a warm welcoming here. Already starting to read up on some material in the Tips and Advice as well as the Dismantling, etc subforums. I also checked out those samples and there are 3 different types of plastic/metal combos. The first one is THHN Wire, the second is Telephone Comm. Cable, and the third is Rubber Extension Cord. I'm going to do some more reading and also try to find out if these wires have a certain percentage of copper in them to try and get an idea of the situation.

Also towards BroJer or anyone who might have the answer: how would I go about finding a buyer other than someone at a recycling center? Maybe a craigslist ad, or searching online/this site?

Sell it to someone who can properly process it, Unless You have a wire granulator, sell as is.

Welcome to the forum Porkchop; Look in the buyer/seller section and try to find Highvoltage, I know he buys wire. I think you have to have about 5 or 6 post in order to send a PM. Another option would be to strip the THHN witch is easy to do but might take some time and the rest I would sell to the scrap yard as #2 insulated copper. At the yard I use #2 insulated copper is about .95-1.00#.