Non-Ferrous Scrap Metals Specifications
Standard Classification for non-ferrous scrap metals as issued by the British Metals Recycling AssociationSection One: Grades for which full specifications can be given.
Section Two: Grades which should be sold on the basis of description, sample or assay.
Section Three: Grades for which code words only are given.
Section One: Full Specifications
Beech 5: Brass, heavy yellow
May consist of heavy yellow brass castings and rod scrap in crucible size pieces. It may contain up to 15% of plated and soldered material. It must be free from manganese, aluminium, silicon and nickel mixtures, condenser tubes and iron and commercially free from any other foreign matter.
Birds 6: Brass, light
May consist of all kinds of brass excluded from any of the other brass categories, but excluding perished sheathing, sweated radiator brass, and aluminium and manganese mixtures. It must be free from iron and commercially free from any other foreign matter.
Bison 7: Brass old rolled
Shall consist of old rolled sheet brass free from shipsÕ sheathing. It must be free from tinned, soldered, and plated material and iron and commercially free from any other foreign matter.
Boars 8: Brass rod ends, new
Shall consist of new extruded brass rod ends and other new process scrap of similar composition and must be free form manganese and aluminium mixtures, iron and any other foreign matter. It must be in crucible size pieces.
Bream 9: Brass rod swarf No 1
Shall consist only of swarf from brass rod, free from manganese and aluminium mixtures, free from aluminium gunmetal and any other foreign matter. It may contain up to 4% iron and moisture combined.
Bucks 10: Brass sheet cuttings, new
Shall consist of cuttings and stampings from new soft brass sheet or strip containing not less than 61.5% of copper and not more than 0.3% of lead. It must be free from punchings, tinned and plated material, iron and any other foreign matter.
Bulls 11: Brass tube, cut up
Shall consist of drawn brass chandelier or similar quality scrap, free from cast brass, extruded tubes, condenser tubes, tinned, plated and soldered material and iron and must be commercially free from any other foreign matter.
Camel 12: Copper, braziery
Shall consist of soldered, tinned and brazed copper and may contain copper vat wire. It may contain up to 5% of brass or gunmetal attachments. It must be free from electrotype shells, back boilers and iron and commercially free from any other foreign matter.
Capon 13: Copper cuttings
Shall consist of clean new untinned copper sheet cuttings of various gauges. It must be free from soldered and plated material, iron and any other foreign matter.
Carps 14: Copper hair wire, tinned
Shall consist of clean unburnt tinned copper hair wire free from tin/lead alloy coated copper wire. It must be free from iron and any other foreign matter.
Chick 15: Copper hair wire, untinned
Shall consist of clean unburnt copper hair wire, free from enamelled wire. It must be free from iron and any other foreign matter.
Chimp 16: Copper heavy
Shall consist of crucible size clean untinned copper not less than a thickness of 1/16in such as cut-up pipe, tubing and sheet. It must be free from brazed, soldered and plated material and iron and commercially free from any other foreign matter.
Clams 18: Copper wire, bright tinned
Shall consist of clean bright unburnt tinned HC copper wire free from hair wire. It must be free from iron and any other foreign matter.
Chows 17: Copper light
Shall consist of collected clean old copper sheet and tube scrap, free from tinned, brazed, soldered and plated material, perished and brittle copper and iron and commercially free from any other foreign matter.
Clams 18: Copper wire, bright tinned
Shall consist of clean bright unburnt HC copper wire not thinner than 22 gauge. It must be free from iron and any other foreign matter.
Colts 20: Copper wire No 1
Shall consist of clean untinned HC copper wire not thinner than 22 gauge, free from hard wire, brittle burnt wire and iron and commercially free from any other foreign matter.
Corgi 21: Copper wire No 2
Shall consist of copper wire such as burnt tinned wire and may contain a percentage of unburnt tinned and soldered wire. It must be free from hair wire, vat wire, burnt wire which is brittle, iron and commercially free from any other foreign matter.
Crows 22: Gunmetal
Shall consist of all classes of gunmetal in crucible size pieces, to be free from excessively leady material. It must be free from iron and commercially free from any other foreign matter.
Daisy 23: Lead, battery grade 'A'
Shall consist of lead accumulator plates with lugs and bridges. It must be free from iron and commercially free from any other foreign matter.
Doves 24: Lead, battery grade 'B'
Shall consist of lead accumulator plates without lugs and bridges. it must be free from iron and commercially free from any other foreign matter.
Drake 25: Lead, old
Shall be free from battery lead, iron, brass, copper and other metals. It must be reasonably free from hard lead, dirt and any other foreign matter.
Drone 26: Nickel silver scrap
May consist of all kinds of collected nickel silver scrap, including soldered and plated. It must be free from iron and commercially free from any other foreign matter.
Ferns 27: Spelter, hard
Shall consist of unsweated and unburnt hard zinc as produced by galvanisers in lumps or slabs and must be free from fine material and iron. No piece to exceed 100lb in weight.
Finch 28: Zinc, old
Shall be free from diecast alloys. it must be free from iron, tar and excessively oxidised material and reasonable free from dirt and any other foreign matter.
Section Two
Short descriptions. To avoid disputes, these grades should be sold on the basis of their description, sample or assay.
Frogs 31: Brass borings, mixed
May consist of any kind of brass borings and turnings. They may be slightly contaminated with aluminium and gunmetal borings and may contain up to a maximum of 10% in all of manganese and aluminium mixture borings. Iron and moisture contents combined should not exceed 5%.
Grain 32: Brass condenser tubes
Should be reasonably free from scale and free from tinned, plated and perished tubes and iron.
Grass 33: Brass turnings, yellow
Should be free from aluminium, manganese and any other admixture. Iron and moisture contents combined should not exceed 3%.
Bulls 34: Brass turnings, yellow
Should be free from aluminium, manganese and any other admixture. Iron and moisture contents combined should not exceed 3%.
Gulls 34: Gunmetal borings
Should be free from grindings, excessively leady material and aluminium, manganese and silicon mixtures and commercially free from brass. Iron and moisture contents combined should not exceed 3%.
Hares 35: Manganese bronze castings
Should be free from aluminium bronze, silicon bronze, iron and any other foreign matter.
Minks 45: Magnesium alloy castings
Moths 46: Magnesium alloy borings and turnings
Mouse 47: Nickel and anodes, pure
Newts 48: Radiator blocks, unsweated brass
Onion 49: Radiator blocks, unsweated brass and copper
Otter 50: Radiator blocks, unsweated copper
Panda 51: Zinc alloy diecastings, new
Panda 51: Zinc alloy diecastings, old
Prawn 53: Zinc sheet cuttings, new
Quail 54: Cupro nickel, new
In the form of cuttings, rod, tube etc
Roach 55: Cupro nickel, old
Robin 56: Monel metal 'K' new
Rooks 57: Monel metal 'K' old
Sable 58: Monel metal 'K' soldered
Seals 59: Monel metal, new
Sheep 60: Monel metal, old
Snail 61: Monel metal, old
Snipe 62: Nickel, pure new
Borings and turnings
Sprat 63: Nickel, pure old
Stork 64: Nickel, silver, new
Tiger 65: Cupro nickel
Trout 66: Monel metal 'K'
Viper 67: Monel metal
Vixen 68: Nickel, pure
Whale 69: Nickel silver
Conditions of sale
1 Delivery of within 1% more or less of the specified quantity to be considered as satisfactory delivery under the contract
2 When the term “about” is used, delivery of within 5% more or less of the specified quantity to be considered as satisfactory delivery under the contract
3 A ton shall be understood to be 2,240lb
4 The contract shall be deemed to have been made in the UK and shall be construed according to the laws of that country.
Notes
1 It is recommended that any dispute arising between buyer and seller should be referred to arbitration in accordance with the rules of Arbitration of the British Secondary Metals Association
2 'Foreign matter' includes insulation, mica, bobbins, plant, lagging, scale, corrosion, tar, paper, rubber, packing and any material other than the actual metal specified
3 Any reference in the classifications to 'iron' means 'free iron'
4 All goods covered by the classification should be packed in handy form, i.e., packed in bags or casks, hanked, hand baled or in other convenient form according to the usual trade custom.