By the Numbers

You can always do what the old timers do, burn them. Perfectly legal since all your doing is burning the varnish off and a tiny bit of plastic. Not like burning insulated wire which is illegal with the toxic fumes from the insulation. Then when they are hot, drench them in cold water...boom nice and clean. They will literally fall apart in your hand and done. I need a better system, but I used a propane blow torch that you use for heating tar buckets and melting ice off of sidewalks. I cut a hole in a 55 gallon drum, rubber banded the throttle to on, and let them cook. It actually burns very very clean and pure. Then grab them with tongs, throw them in ice water which purifies it, then throw them on the ground. Normally they fall right apart and copper is free. Plus if you get grills and tanks all the time, the fuel is essentially free.

I actually got this idea from a guy that I cleaned up his yard for. He ran a animal shelter / crematorium for the cats/dogs. He literally inverted a big propane tank, like a 100 gallon. Cut holes in it and had three of the blow torches in a circle to cremate the deceased animals. Hence where the idea came from.

In my opinion this is perfectly legal, because all there is on a transformer is varnish and a tiny bit of plastic holding the copper in. Some paper too. Not like burning wire, which I dont condone.

The old timers did this for a 100 years in the electrical motor building shops which is a dying breed now. Dont see 1 if any anymore. This also works with stators from motors

Also a interesting tidbit. After the copper is purified by fire, the yard will buy it as number 1 all day long. Interesting how they are condoning burning wire and even told me to burn my insulated before I bring it down. Which I wont lol.