What happens to 'mixed metal'??

[Rusty Nuts]

If the yard has a shredder, than the shredder seperates everything.. if not then i would assume the operators/labor's pull out the goodies and clean/seperate/burn.. thats what we do in our yard.. we recover everything we can!

I assumed that at some point it had to be separated out, but doesn't that happen at the smelter or foundry??
Can the yard separate out - say aluminum and copper from the steel, and do it onsite??
Or do they just sell bales of mixed (s)crap to the foundry?

(I've seen the yard employees cutting steel with torches, but I've never seen them pulling copper wire or motors from appliances.)



Here the yard I use.
I can see the big pile of unsorted stuff near the drop off area
and there's a pile that looks to be shredded steel- judging from the color.
But I'm not sure where the shredder is.
and I don't see a foundry of any kind.