If you have a pile of old electrical wire, the temptation is obvious.
Copper is valuable. Bare copper is generally worth more than insulated copper wire. So if you remove all that plastic before heading to the scrap yard, you should make more money.
Technically, yes.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean you should strip it.
Whether stripping copper wire is worth the effort depends on the type of wire, how much copper is actually inside it, how easily the insulation comes off, how much material you have, and most importantly, how much your time is worth.
Sometimes stripping wire can substantially increase the value of a load. Other times, you can spend an entire afternoon removing plastic only to discover you’ve earned a few extra dollars.
Here’s how to tell the difference.
Why Is Stripped Copper Wire Worth More?
When a scrap yard buys insulated copper wire, it isn’t buying a pound of copper.
It’s buying a combination of copper and insulation.
Imagine one pound of wire contains 60% copper. The recycler ultimately wants the copper inside, but it has to account for the remaining material and the processing required to separate it.
Bare copper eliminates much of that uncertainty and processing.
That’s why clean, properly prepared copper can receive a higher classification than insulated wire.
But there is an important catch.
Removing insulation also removes weight.
If you bring in 100 pounds of insulated wire, you aren’t going to end up with 100 pounds of bare copper.
You might end up with 70 pounds. Or 50. Or considerably less.
That percentage is one of the most important numbers in deciding whether stripping makes sense.
The Number That Matters: Copper Recovery
Copper recovery is essentially the percentage of an insulated cable’s weight that consists of recoverable copper.
Take a hypothetical 100-pound batch of wire.
If the wire is 75% copper by weight, stripping it leaves approximately 75 pounds of copper.
If another type of cable contains only 35% copper, the same 100-pound starting pile produces only about 35 pounds.
That changes the economics dramatically.
Thick copper conductors surrounded by relatively thin insulation tend to be much more attractive candidates for stripping than tiny conductors buried beneath substantial insulation, shielding, and other materials.
This is why you cannot answer “Is stripping copper wire worth it?” with a simple yes or no.
You need to know what kind of wire you’re dealing with.
A Simple Way to Calculate Whether Stripping Wire Is Worth It
You don’t need to strip an entire pile to find out.
Take a representative sample and weigh it.
Suppose you have 10 pounds of insulated wire.
Strip that sample completely and weigh the copper afterward.
If you’re left with 7 pounds of copper:
7 ÷ 10 = 70% copper recovery
Now you can compare two options.
Option A: Sell the Wire Insulated
Multiply the total insulated weight by the price your recycler is offering for that particular wire classification.
Option B: Strip It
Multiply the estimated recovered copper weight by the price offered for the copper grade you would produce.
Then compare the difference.
But don’t stop there.
You still need to ask:
How long will stripping it take?
That’s where many DIY scrap calculations fall apart.
Your Time Has a Price Too
Suppose stripping a pile of wire increases its scrap value by $40.
Sounds good.
Now suppose it takes you five hours.
You’ve effectively earned an additional $8 per hour for stripping wire.
Was that worthwhile?
Maybe you’re sitting in the garage watching football and don’t care. Maybe you’re running an electrical business and your employees could have spent those five hours doing billable work.
Those are completely different situations.
Now imagine another pile takes 30 minutes to strip and increases its value by $40.
That’s a much more compelling proposition.
Instead of asking whether stripped copper is worth more, ask:
How much additional money am I making per hour of stripping?
That’s the calculation that actually matters.
What Types of Copper Wire Are Usually Better Candidates for Stripping?
In general, larger, thicker conductors are more attractive.
Heavy-gauge electrical cable can contain substantial copper with insulation that is relatively easy to remove.
The exact classification depends on the material, but candidates can include larger electrical conductors and certain types of heavy cable generated during electrical, construction, demolition, or industrial work.
If you can make one cut and peel away insulation to reveal a substantial copper conductor, stripping may be worth investigating.
The opposite is also true.
If you’re fighting through layers of material to recover tiny strands of copper, you’re probably moving in the wrong direction.
What Wire Usually Isn’t Worth Stripping by Hand?
Thin wire is where people frequently waste time.
Small communication cable, tiny appliance wires, and other low-recovery material can require enormous amounts of labor relative to the copper recovered.
Extension cords are another good example of why you should calculate rather than assume.
Yes, there is copper inside.
But there is also insulation, and the conductors may be relatively small. Spending considerable time manually stripping ordinary cords may not produce enough additional value to justify the work.
The same principle applies to complicated cables containing multiple insulated conductors, shielding, jackets, connectors, and other materials.
They may still have scrap value.
They just might be more valuable to you when sold intact because you avoid hours of processing.
Don’t Assume All Bare Copper Becomes Bare Bright
This is a particularly important misconception.
You strip some wire, see shiny copper underneath, and assume you’ve just created the highest-paying copper grade.
Not necessarily.
Scrap yards grade copper according to specific requirements.
Copper that is coated, oxidized, contaminated, too small, or otherwise outside the recycler’s specifications may fall into another category.
The phrase bare bright copper refers to a particular high-quality scrap copper classification, not simply “copper from which I removed some plastic.”
Before processing a large quantity specifically to reach a certain grade, ask your recycler what qualifies.
What About Burning the Insulation Off Copper Wire?
Don’t.
Burning wire is not a clever shortcut for creating clean copper.
It creates hazardous smoke and contamination, can violate environmental and local regulations, and may leave the copper oxidized or otherwise downgraded rather than improving its value.
Scrap recyclers may also reject suspiciously burned wire.
If wire is worth processing, use an appropriate mechanical stripping method.
If it isn’t worth mechanically stripping, sell it in its proper insulated classification.
Is a Copper Wire Stripping Machine Worth Buying?
For someone with a handful of old extension cords?
Probably not.
For an electrician, demolition contractor, recycler, or business regularly generating substantial quantities of appropriate cable?
That’s a different calculation.
A wire stripping machine changes the most important variable in our equation: time.
Material that makes little sense to process manually can become economical when it can be processed efficiently.
But buying equipment doesn’t magically make every wire worth stripping.
You still have to consider:
– Volume
– Wire size
– Copper recovery
– Processing speed
– Labor
– Equipment cost
– Scrap price difference
The economics become much more attractive when the same process is repeated across hundreds or thousands of pounds of suitable material.
Electricians Should Think About This Differently
For a homeowner, copper wire is usually an occasional pile.
For an electrical contractor, it’s a recurring material stream.
That changes everything.
An electrician might generate wire scraps from panel upgrades, rewiring projects, commercial installations, renovations, demolition work, and service jobs throughout the year.
Throwing all of it into one mixed container can leave money on the table.
But having skilled employees manually strip every little wire scrap can also be a terrible use of labor.
The better approach is often to establish categories.
Keep high-recovery heavy cable separate.
Keep lower-grade insulated wire separate.
Keep clean copper separate from contaminated material.
Then decide which category, if any, makes financial sense to process further.
That turns wire recycling into a repeatable business process instead of an occasional guessing game.
Should You Strip Copper Plumbing Wire and Cable Before Going to the Scrap Yard?
The best answer is surprisingly simple:
Ask what the yard will pay first.
Get the current price for your insulated wire classification.
Then ask what the resulting stripped copper would be classified as and what that grade is currently paying.
Now you have the two numbers needed to make a rational decision.
Without those numbers, you’re stripping first and discovering whether it was worthwhile afterward.
That’s backwards.
A Quick Example
Imagine you have 50 pounds of heavy insulated copper cable.
A small test shows that the cable is approximately 70% copper by weight.
That means:
50 pounds × 70% = approximately 35 pounds of recovered copper
Now compare:
50 lb × insulated wire price
against:
35 lb × applicable clean copper price
The difference is your potential gross benefit from stripping.
If stripping the entire pile takes 30 minutes, the additional return may be attractive.
If it takes six hours, it may not be.
This same calculation works whether you have 10 pounds or 10,000 pounds.
Sometimes Sorting Is More Important Than Stripping
There is another way to increase scrap value that requires much less work.
Sort your wire.
Don’t automatically mix heavy copper cable, low-grade wire, extension cords, communication wire, clean copper, and other electrical scrap into one container.
Different materials can have dramatically different recovery percentages and classifications.
Separating obvious categories can help ensure higher-quality wire isn’t buried inside lower-value material.
For businesses producing significant quantities, good sorting can sometimes produce a better return on labor than aggressive dismantling.
When Stripping Copper Wire Makes the Most Sense
There isn’t a magic wire size where stripping suddenly becomes profitable.
But the best candidates generally share several characteristics:
– High copper recovery
– Thick conductors
– Insulation that comes off easily
– Large quantities of similar material
– A meaningful price difference between insulated and stripped grades
– Efficient stripping equipment or low processing time
The worse candidates are essentially the reverse:
– Low copper recovery
– Tiny conductors
– Difficult insulation
– Small quantities
– Minimal price difference
– Lots of manual labor
Once you look at it that way, the decision becomes much easier.
So, Is Stripping Copper Wire Worth It?
Sometimes absolutely. Sometimes absolutely not.
The mistake is assuming that because stripped copper has a higher price per pound, stripping must always produce a better financial result.
What matters is the value of the entire load after processing and the labor required to get there.
Before stripping a large pile:
- Identify the wire.
- Weigh a sample.
- Determine its approximate copper recovery.
- Ask your recycler for the insulated-wire price.
- Find out what grade the stripped material would qualify for.
- Calculate the difference.
- Estimate how long processing will take.
If the numbers work, strip it.
If they don’t, take the money for the insulated wire and spend your afternoon doing something else.
Selling Copper Wire in South Florida
Atland Recycling buys copper and other non-ferrous and ferrous scrap from homeowners, electricians, contractors, repair businesses, agricultural operations, and commercial customers.
Based in Okeechobee, Florida, Atland serves customers throughout South Florida, including Palm Beach and Miami.
If you have insulated copper wire, clean copper, electrical scrap, motors, brass, aluminum, or larger quantities of commercial scrap, contact Atland Recycling for current pricing and help determining how your material should be classified.
