Brass turns up in almost every plant and workshop in Musaffah, usually without anyone planning for it. A valve gets replaced, a pump is stripped, a machine shop fills a drum with turnings by Thursday. It sits in a corner until somebody decides to clear the yard.
Brass is also one of the few metals where a bit of sorting on site pays for itself. The difference between a mixed drum and three separated drums is real money, and it costs you nothing but a labelled bin.
Where industrial brass actually comes from
Most of what we collect comes from four places. Plumbing and pipework: valves, gate valves, fittings, taps, flanges. Pumps and marine work: impellers, housings, propeller offcuts, gunmetal parts. Machine shops: turnings and swarf from CNC work, offcuts from bar stock. And electrical work: bus bar connectors, terminals, meter parts.
Radiator cores from vehicle and plant workshops are their own thing. They are brass and copper together with steel and plastic attached, so they get quoted separately.
The grades that decide your rate
Brass is copper and zinc, and the rate follows the copper content. That is the whole logic behind grading, and once you know it the rest is easy to remember.
- Yellow brass. The everyday one. Fittings, hardware, keys, general mixed brass. Lower copper, so the lowest of the brass rates.
- Red brass and gunmetal. Higher copper content, often from valves, pump bodies and marine parts. Pays noticeably better than yellow.
- Brass turnings. Machine shop swarf. Paid by weight but the rate depends on how clean and how dry it is.
- Radiator brass. Cores from vehicles and cooling systems, priced on its own because of the steel and plastic in it.
If a load comes in mixed, it gets valued at close to the lowest grade in the drum. That is not a trick. Once yellow brass, red brass and a few steel bolts are in one container, the whole lot has to be treated as the weakest part of it until somebody sorts it by hand.
What quietly pulls the price down
Steel is the main one. Steel screws left in fittings, steel springs inside valves, a steel core in a brass body. Magnets are cheap and a two second check on each piece removes the argument later.
After that: chrome and nickel plating, which is common on bathroom fittings. Rubber seals and O-rings. Paint is usually not a problem. Oil and coolant sitting in a drum of turnings is a problem, because you are being paid by weight and the weight in that drum is partly fluid. Let swarf drain for a day before it goes in the bin.
How the quote gets built
We ask three things: what it is, roughly how much there is, and where it sits. Photos answer the first two better than a description does. From there you get a rate per kilo for each grade you have, or a single price for the whole load if it is mixed and you do not want to sort it.
The number we quote is the number that gets paid. Nothing comes off at the weighbridge afterwards, and everything is weighed in front of you.
If brass leaves your site every month
Workshops that produce brass steadily are better off with a standing arrangement than a phone call every few months. That usually looks like labelled drums on site, a pickup on a fixed day, and a weight slip per grade for your records. It also means the swarf never sits long enough to collect oil and dust.
We buy across Abu Dhabi and collect from the yard in Musaffah M42. If you are not sure whether what you have counts as brass at all, send a photo. Asking costs nothing, and mystery metal turns out to be brass more often than people expect.
See the full list of what we buy, or tell us what is on site and we will price it the same day.
Common questions
Do I have to sort brass before you collect it?
No, but it pays you to. A mixed drum is valued close to the lowest grade in it, so separating yellow brass, red brass and turnings into labelled bins usually earns more than the sorting costs. For a small one off load, selling it mixed is often the sensible trade.
Is brass swarf from machining worth collecting?
Yes. Brass turnings are bought by weight at their own rate. Let them drain before they go in the drum, because coolant sitting in the bottom is weight you are being paid for that is not metal.
How is the brass rate decided?
Brass is copper and zinc, and the rate follows the copper content. Red brass and gunmetal carry more copper than yellow brass, so they pay better. Steel screws, plating and rubber seals left in the load pull the number down.
Do you collect from workshops in Musaffah?
Yes. The yard is in Musaffah M42 and we collect across Abu Dhabi. Workshops that produce brass every month usually move to a fixed pickup day with a weight slip per grade.
