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  1. #1
    recyclersteve started this thread.
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    Current Pricing for Electrical Ballasts

    What is everyone getting for electrical ballasts sold without breaking them open? I am not referring to the old ones with PCB's (potentially cancerous) inside. Also, is anyone getting anything for the newer electronic ballasts which feel quite a bit lighter than the electrical ballasts. Do the new electronic ones have any copper inside?

    FYI- I went to a local scrap yard (location not being disclosed for privacy reasons) on 6/15/18 and asked about ballasts. They said they are only paying THREE CENTS A POUND, less even than the five cents a pound they pay for steel. This felt to me like their way of saying "We just don't want to buy them" rather than a fair price to pay. Your thoughts?


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  3. #2
    greytruck's Avatar
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    I can get .07 / lb at both of the yards i use. But since steel price went above .07, i just leave them on the shop lights and into the shred pile they go.

    The newer light weight ballasts do have copper inside, but its like 3 small copper coils and a junk brown board in there. To much effort for pennies to disassemble them.
    Last edited by greytruck; 06-17-2018 at 01:53 PM. Reason: grammer

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  5. #3
    CJBlackburn's Avatar
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    I'm currently paying .10/lb. for unopened ballasts. I'd say your right about the yard paying. 03. They likely don't have a buyer for them and are slipping small amounts into shred (some contain oils that are frowned upon). The low price is to discourage anyone from bringing them in.

    Or they're doing some serious shafting, lol.

    ***Not trying to advertise, if it seems so I will remove the post or a mod may relocate it. Just trying to be informative. Seems prices in the Southeast US are currently higher than elsewhere. Been seeing a trend in this for about 4 years now.
    Last edited by CJBlackburn; 06-17-2018 at 11:21 AM.
    My mother always said "Ask your father." My father always said "If it doesn't work, hit it with a hammer. If that doesn't work, hit it again."

  6. #4
    jimicrk's Avatar
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    They're going for .09/lb at the yard I go to.

  7. #5
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    I was able to sell them as motors . but be advised though of what you are breaking open. They DID and DO contain nasty stuff

  8. #6
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    $0.10/# on 6-16-18

  9. #7
    ScrapmanIndustries's Avatar
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    they say the pcb's are dangerous and that we can't buy them in the metals room when they have pcb's. but yet we take them in the steel pile and have guys sit downstream and breath in all that crap after it just got broken up in the mill. I think we are at 6 cents a pound.

  10. #8
    hobo finds's Avatar
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    $.02 a pound for them so the guy said put them in with the sheet iron for a better price, I was using my bonus punch pricing of +$.10 a pound on all items that trip so I should have got $.12 for them but did not.
    Better than the dump!

  11. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by hobo finds View Post
    $.02 a pound for them so the guy said put them in with the sheet iron for a better price, I was using my bonus punch pricing of +$.10 a pound on all items that trip so I should have got $.12 for them but did not.
    Good to know. I was about to take in a bunch of ballasts and use my punch card.

  12. #10
    recyclersteve started this thread.
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    Thanks for the replies. I was hoping to get somewhere in the neighborhood of 15-25 cents a pound, but I guess that is a pipe dream for now.


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