Aluminium is one of the most common non-ferrous metals in trade and construction scrap, and it’s usually straightforward to identify with a couple of quick checks.
The magnet test
Aluminium is non-magnetic. If a magnet won’t stick to a piece of metal, and it feels notably light for its size, it’s almost certainly aluminium (or another non-ferrous metal like copper or brass — the weight and colour will usually tell you which).
What it looks like
A dull, silvery-grey colour, without the reddish tone of copper or the yellow-gold of brass. Aluminium doesn’t rust, though it can develop a chalky white oxidation layer over time, particularly outdoors.
Common grades
- Clean sheet, window frames, extrusions — the highest-value aluminium grade, uniform and easy to process
- Cast aluminium — engine blocks, wheels, and similar cast components, valued lower than clean sheet due to the alloy mix
- Mixed/turnings — swarf and mixed off-cuts from machining, typically the lowest-value aluminium grade
Where it commonly comes from on a job
Window and door frames, cladding, ductwork, cable trunking, and various fittings — aluminium turns up across trade and construction work more often than people expect once you know to look for it.
Why it’s worth collecting separately
Aluminium is light, which means a genuinely useful quantity takes up more space and requires more volume to be worth the trip to sell — but it’s also easy to accumulate steadily across multiple jobs if you keep a dedicated container for it, rather than letting it get mixed into general waste or a general mixed-metal pile.
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