What's the typical yield percentage when chopping insulated wire, and how do buyers verify it?
Short answer: Yield varies significantly by wire type and gauge, but chopped or granulated insulated wire commonly recovers somewhere in the broad range of 40-70% copper by weight depending on the insulation thickness relative to the conductor, and buyers typically verify actual yield by running a test batch through their own chopping or granulating equipment rather than taking a seller's estimate at face value.
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List Free →Why yield varies so much by wire type
Thin-gauge wire with thick insulation, like some low-voltage control wire, yields a much lower copper percentage than thick-gauge wire with thin insulation, like heavier household wiring, simply because the ratio of copper to plastic differs so much between wire types.
How buyers actually verify it
A buyer with chopping or granulating equipment can run a small representative sample through their process and directly measure the actual copper recovery, which is far more reliable than any visual estimate or seller claim about expected yield.
What this means for pricing
If you’re selling a genuinely large, consistent volume of one wire type, it’s worth asking a buyer to run a test batch and quote you based on actual measured yield rather than a generic insulated-wire rate, since your specific wire could yield meaningfully better or worse than average.
How ScrapTrade Makes This Easier
Noting the general wire type and gauge in a ScrapTrade listing helps buyers estimate likely yield before committing, which can lead to a more accurate initial offer than an unspecified “insulated copper wire” listing.
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