Buyers of copper and aluminium scrap in the European Union
Recycling
Smelters, secondary refineries, remelters, rod mills and plants with their own melting, as well as scrap processors and traders from the Companies register – by metal, scrap grade, distance from the shipping point and country. For each plant: the company, the type of buyer, the grades accepted according to documents, sources with their class and a general description of the shipment procedure.
A picture of the market – not a commercial recommendation. No prices, ratings or rankings; ordered by straight-line distance or alphabetically. Contact through the company website; the register holds no personal data.
- 850
- buyer plants
- 615
- companies
- 30
- countries
- 396
- Cu – buyer plants
- 730
- Al – buyer plants
Data as of: · version 2.31 · verified at source up to · Dataset changes · Markdown · JSON · grade dictionary version 1.0 · Scrap code translator
Find a buyer
Choosing a metal shows all buyers of that metal in the register; a scrap grade narrows the list to plants whose documents name that grade. Shipping point – a click on the map, a NUTS 3 region or your browser location (it stays in the browser – it is not sent to the server).
Buyers
50 buyers
No shipping point – alphabetical order; distance and procedure appear once a shipping point is chosen.
Straight-line distance (great circle) from the shipping point – not road distance.
-
Casarrubios del Monte – recycling of aluminium-copper radiators, Casarrubios del Monte · Spain
Accepted grades: aluminium-copper radiators
B Company website – home page · verified 2026-10-08
-
O Porriño (Budiño) – ferrous and non-ferrous scrap processing plant, O Porriño · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Company website – facilities and technology · verified 2026-10-08
-
San Cibrao das Viñas – scrap collection and sorting centre, San Cibrao das Viñas · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Company website – facilities and technology · verified 2026-10-08
-
Vigo – scrap collection and sorting centre, Vigo · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Company website – facilities and technology · verified 2026-10-08
-
Huelva – smelter and refinery (CirCular), Huelva · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
A Freeport-McMoRan Inc., Form 10-K 2024 (PDF p. 27 – Atlantic Copper: anodes 247,600 t; 30% of concentrate from... · verified 2026-10-08
-
Berango – recycling, Berango · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
A Aurubis AG, Annual Report 2024/25 – Combined Management Report (druk. s. 62–63 surowce i segmenty; s. 65–66 Pi... · verified 2026-10-08
-
Alcalá de Guadaíra – non-ferrous scrap depot, Alcalá de Guadaíra · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Company website – home page · verified 2026-10-08
-
Córdoba – wire rod mill, wire drawing plant, secondary refinery, Córdoba · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Cunext Group, Dossier corporativo 2019 · verified 2026-10-08
-
Espiel – ESTACOR (wire drawing and tinning plant), Espiel · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Cunext Group, Non-Financial Information Statement / Sustainability Report 2024 (EINF, Ley 11/2018) – Table 1 “... · verified 2026-10-06
-
Albalate del Arzobispo – lead smelter and aluminium scrap sorting plant, Albalate del Arzobispo · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Company website – plant description · verified 2026-10-08
-
Alcalá de Guadaíra – non-ferrous scrap yard, Alcalá de Guadaíra · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Company website – plant description · verified 2026-10-08
-
Alicante – non-ferrous scrap yard, Alicante · Spain
Accepted grades: insulated copper wire and cable scrap, aluminium wire and cable scrap
B Company website – plant description · verified 2026-10-08
-
Araia (Asparrena) – shredder and cable granulation, Araia · Spain
Accepted grades: insulated copper wire and cable scrap, aluminium wire and cable scrap
B Company website – plant description · verified 2026-10-08
-
Aznalcóllar – Zerdirator shredder and eddy current separation, Aznalcóllar · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Company website – plant description · verified 2026-10-08
-
Barberà del Vallès – non-ferrous scrap yard, Barberà del Vallès · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Company website – plant description · verified 2026-10-08
-
La Muela (Centrovía) – non-ferrous scrap yard, La Muela · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Company website – plant description · verified 2026-10-08
-
Logroño – non-ferrous scrap yard, Logroño · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Company website – plant description · verified 2026-10-08
-
Málaga (Santa Teresa) – non-ferrous scrap yard, Málaga · Spain
Accepted grades: insulated copper wire and cable scrap, aluminium wire and cable scrap
B Company website – plant description · verified 2026-10-08
-
Mejorada del Campo – non-ferrous scrap yard, Mejorada del Campo · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Company website – plant description · verified 2026-10-08
-
O Porriño (As Gándaras) – non-ferrous scrap yard, O Porriño · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Company website – plant description · verified 2026-10-08
-
Paterna – scrap yard and WEEE processing, Paterna · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Company website – plant description · verified 2026-10-08
-
San Martín de la Vega – shredder with fraction separation, San Martín de la Vega · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Company website – plant description · verified 2026-10-08
-
Valladolid (San Cristóbal) – non-ferrous scrap yard, Valladolid · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Company website – plant description · verified 2026-10-08
-
Zaragoza (Cogullada) – non-ferrous scrapyard, Zaragoza · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Company website – plant description · verified 2026-10-08
-
Alegia – enamelled winding wire, Alegia · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Company website – about the company (ederfilbecker.com) · verified 2026-10-17
-
Legorreta – enamelled winding wire, Legorreta · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Company website – about the company (ederfilbecker.com) · verified 2026-10-17
-
Torrent – storage and recycling of radiators and brass, Torrent · Spain
Accepted grades: brass scrap, aluminium-copper radiators
B Company website – home page and contact · verified 2026-10-08
-
Xirivella – non-ferrous scrap depot, Xirivella · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Company website – home page and contact · verified 2026-10-08
-
Riba-roja de Túria – non-ferrous scrap depot, Riba-roja de Túria · Spain
Accepted grades: mixed copper-bearing scrap
B Company website – home page · verified 2026-10-08
-
Molins de Rei – scrap processing centre, Molins de Rei · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Group website – company, technology and installations · verified 2026-10-08
-
San José de la Rinconada – scrap processing centre, La Rinconada · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Group website – company, technology and installations · verified 2026-10-08
-
Zaragoza (PTR López Soriano) – scrap processing centre, Zaragoza · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Group website – company, technology and installations · verified 2026-10-08
-
Alhama de Murcia – shredder with metal separation, Alhama de Murcia · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Group website – home page (services and centres) · verified 2026-10-08
-
Santa Perpètua de Mogoda – rurownia, Santa Perpètua de Mogoda (Barcelona) · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B HME Metal Europe, „Company” – HME Copper Germany (Menden), HME Ibertubos (Barcelona), HME Brass Germany (Berli... · verified 2026-10-08
-
Asua-Erandio – processing of WEEE and composite scrap, Erandio · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Company website – home page · verified 2026-10-08
-
Industrias López Soriano, S.A.
Zaragoza (PTR La Cartuja Baja) – shredder and scrap processing, Zaragoza · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Company website – home page · verified 2026-10-08
-
Dos Hermanas – shredder with metal separation, Dos Hermanas · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Group website – home page (services and centres) · verified 2026-10-08
-
El Puig de Santa Maria – cable granulation and scrap yard, El Puig de Santa Maria · Spain
Accepted grades: insulated copper wire and cable scrap, aluminium wire and cable scrap
B Company website – facilities · verified 2026-10-08
-
Onda – scrap yard, Onda · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Company website – facilities · verified 2026-10-08
-
San Martín de la Vega – scrap yard, San Martín de la Vega · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Company website – facilities · verified 2026-10-08
-
La Farga YourCopperSolutions S.A.
Les Masies de Voltregà – rolling mill (ETP and FRHC Cosmelt), Les Masies de Voltregà · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B La Farga, „Wire rods” (ETP, FRHC/GENIUS, CuAg, CuSn, CuMg) · verified 2026-10-08
-
Vitoria-Gasteiz (PI Betoño) – non-ferrous scrap depot, Vitoria-Gasteiz · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Company website – home page · verified 2026-10-08
-
Alaquàs – granulacja kabli, Alaquàs · Spain
Accepted grades: insulated copper wire and cable scrap, aluminium wire and cable scrap
B Company website – operations · verified 2026-10-08
-
Minglanilla – cable granulation and aluminium sorting, Minglanilla · Spain
Accepted grades: insulated copper wire and cable scrap, aluminium wire and cable scrap
B Company website – operations · verified 2026-10-08
-
Córdoba – brass foundry and extrusion plant, Córdoba · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Boletín Oficial de la Provincia de Córdoba no. 145 of 28.07.2022 – company collective labour agreement 2022–20... · verified 2026-10-17
-
Bilbao – stainless steel and nickel alloy scrap processing, Bilbao · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Company website – facilities · verified 2026-10-08
-
Parets del Vallès – non-ferrous scrap depot, Parets del Vallès · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Company website – home page · verified 2026-10-08
-
Getafe – non-ferrous scrap depot, Getafe · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Company website – home page · verified 2026-10-08
-
Seseña – scrap processing plant, Seseña · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Company website – home page · verified 2026-10-08
-
Torrejón de Velasco – scrap and WEEE processing plant, Torrejón de Velasco · Spain
Accepted grades: grades not established in the register documents
B Company website – home page · verified 2026-10-08
The list shows the first 150 of 50 buyers; the full result is in the export.
No buyers with these filters. A larger radius, the area “also GB, CH, NO, TR”, the type “both” or a search without a grade widens the list.
Export results:
CSV · XLSX · Markdown · JSON
The export contains the result for the filters in the address; distance only with a shipping point from a NUTS 3 region (a point from the map or from the browser is not sent to the server).
Shipment procedure
- Same country
- shipment within the country – national rules
- Other EU country
- shipment between EU Member States – green-listed scrap: Article 18 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1157, document in Annex VII
- Export from the EU
- export from the EU – provisions of Regulation (EU) 2024/1157 on exports from the Union and the rules of the country of import
The description of the shipment procedure is general and does not constitute legal advice. Legal status as of 20 October 2026: Regulation (EU) 2024/1157 of the European Parliament and of the Council on shipments of waste. The classification of the waste and the obligations of the parties are determined case by case.
Buyers in the register
Number of buyer plants by metal and type (a plant of two metals counts in both). The numbers are not market size or shares – they are register plants meeting the buyer rule.
| Metal | smelter | smelter – type of plant | processor | plants in total | companies | with a documented grade | in GB, CH, NO, TR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| copper | 30 | 82 | 284 | 396 | 259 | 84 | 53 |
| aluminium | 158 | 270 | 302 | 730 | 515 | 127 | 109 |
Buyers by country
Buyer plants by country and metal; the country name leads to the “metal × country” page.
| Country | Cu – smelter | Cu – smelter – type of plant | Cu – processor | Al – smelter | Al – smelter – type of plant | Al – processor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | · | 2 | 7 | 6 | 16 | 8 |
| Belgium | · | 1 | 14 | 1 | 6 | 14 |
| Bulgaria | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Croatia | · | · | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Cyprus | 1 | · | 1 | 1 | · | 1 |
| Czechia | · | 1 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 5 |
| Denmark | · | · | 6 | · | 1 | 7 |
| Estonia | · | · | · | · | · | 3 |
| Finland | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| France | 3 | 11 | 22 | 17 | 41 | 22 |
| Germany | 8 | 23 | 25 | 25 | 48 | 26 |
| Greece | · | 1 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 4 |
| Hungary | · | 1 | · | 3 | 8 | 3 |
| Ireland | · | · | 1 | · | · | 2 |
| Italy | 5 | 15 | 19 | 22 | 44 | 22 |
| Latvia | · | · | 2 | 1 | · | 2 |
| Lithuania | · | · | 6 | 1 | · | 6 |
| Luxembourg | · | 1 | · | 1 | 1 | · |
| Netherlands | · | 1 | 15 | 2 | 3 | 14 |
| Norway (outside the EU) | · | · | 8 | 11 | 4 | 10 |
| Poland | 3 | 5 | 32 | 9 | 20 | 32 |
| Portugal | · | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Romania | 1 | 1 | 15 | 4 | 4 | 15 |
| Slovakia | · | · | 2 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
| Slovenia | · | · | 8 | 1 | 2 | 8 |
| Spain | 4 | 5 | 41 | 14 | 14 | 42 |
| Sweden | 2 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 7 |
| Switzerland (outside the EU) | · | 1 | 17 | 1 | 4 | 17 |
| Türkiye (outside the EU) | · | 4 | 5 | 7 | 16 | 5 |
| United Kingdom (outside the EU) | 1 | 1 | 16 | 10 | 6 | 18 |
EU scrap market
EU-27 scrap trade with non-EU countries (Eurostat Comext): imports and exports in tonnes, main partners. Scrap mass, not metal content; tonnes of copper and aluminium are not added up.
Copper scrap
Table of years (chart data)
| Year | of which from outside the EU (t) | of which to outside the EU (t) | Import unit value (EUR/t) | Export unit value (EUR/t) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 570,304 | 843,290 | 3,559 | 2,831 |
| 2016 | 534,485 | 822,093 | 3,188 | 2,454 |
| 2017 | 517,357 | 873,180 | 3,676 | 2,961 |
| 2018 | 519,608 | 637,072 | 3,768 | 3,327 |
| 2019 | 554,208 | 696,487 | 3,696 | 3,107 |
| 2020 | 552,211 | 605,776 | 3,768 | 3,055 |
| 2021 | 529,241 | 678,606 | 5,119 | 4,543 |
| 2022 | 541,627 | 489,730 | 5,825 | 5,120 |
| 2023 | 451,492 | 531,200 | 5,540 | 4,891 |
| 2024 | 408,105 | 608,438 | 5,966 | 5,371 |
| 2025 | 476,276 | 648,532 | 6,330 | 5,652 |
| 2026 incomplete year: 2026-01/2026-08 | 319,196 | 492,141 | 7,824 | 7,078 |
Largest scrap suppliers (2025)
- United States 152,221 t
- Switzerland 70,043 t
- United Kingdom 67,738 t
- Norway 19,958 t
- Morocco 11,090 t
Largest scrap destinations (2025)
- China 309,896 t
- India 109,038 t
- Thailand 50,168 t
- Pakistan 26,076 t
- Japan 24,985 t
Unit value (EUR/t) – value divided by mass from trade declarations (Comext); an approximation of the price level, not a market price. CN codes: 7404 00 10, 7404 00 91, 7404 00 99 .
Source: Eurostat Comext – EU trade by CN8 (DS-045409), as of 2026-10-20. Balance = exports − imports. Comext
Aluminium scrap
Table of years (chart data)
| Year | of which from outside the EU (t) | of which to outside the EU (t) | Import unit value (EUR/t) | Export unit value (EUR/t) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 465,295 | 679,385 | 1,257 | 1,221 |
| 2016 | 520,286 | 681,610 | 1,106 | 1,070 |
| 2017 | 567,587 | 717,534 | 1,257 | 1,194 |
| 2018 | 611,053 | 704,414 | 1,278 | 1,196 |
| 2019 | 665,746 | 834,518 | 1,124 | 1,028 |
| 2020 | 602,187 | 946,776 | 998 | 946 |
| 2021 | 563,142 | 1,114,384 | 1,406 | 1,368 |
| 2022 | 702,956 | 992,253 | 1,876 | 1,772 |
| 2023 | 607,586 | 1,165,920 | 1,580 | 1,545 |
| 2024 | 657,263 | 1,257,738 | 1,692 | 1,646 |
| 2025 | 652,372 | 1,277,301 | 1,788 | 1,774 |
| 2026 incomplete year: 2026-01/2026-08 | 462,043 | 853,182 | 2,149 | 2,139 |
Largest scrap suppliers (2025)
- Switzerland 158,719 t
- United Kingdom 113,738 t
- Norway 46,146 t
- Türkiye 34,172 t
- Israel 32,887 t
Largest scrap destinations (2025)
- India 382,981 t
- Thailand 149,624 t
- China 127,142 t
- Hong Kong 106,680 t
- Pakistan 103,840 t
Unit value (EUR/t) – value divided by mass from trade declarations (Comext); an approximation of the price level, not a market price. CN codes: 7602 00 11, 7602 00 19, 7602 00 90 .
Source: Eurostat Comext – EU trade by CN8 (DS-045409), as of 2026-10-20. Balance = exports − imports. Comext
Rules
- Buyer from the Companies register
- A scrap buyer is a register plant in a smelting link (smelter, secondary refinery, ingot caster, rod mill) or a processing link (recycling, shredding, granulation, e-waste recycling), with copper or aluminium, not closed, in the EU-27 or – as an option – in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway and Türkiye.
- Semi-finished product plants and foundries
- Rolling mills, wire drawing plants, extrusion plants and foundries with copper or aluminium are “smelter” buyers: scrap intake is inferred from the type of plant, not from a document – marked and can be excluded with a filter.
- Grade only from a document
- A grade entry for a plant exists only when a primary document (purchase page, grade list, permit with waste codes, register) names the grade, the waste code or the scrap CN code for that plant. A general “we buy scrap” without the metal is not an entry.
- Distance
- Distance is the straight-line (great-circle) distance from the shipping point; it is not road distance or transport cost.
- Unit value
- The trade unit value (EUR/t) comes from Comext trade declarations – it approximates the price level and is not a market price. The portal publishes no price agency or LME quotations.
- Procedure
- The description of the shipment procedure is general, with the legal act and the date of the legal status – it is not legal advice.
- Picture of the market
- The list of buyers is a picture of the market – not a commercial recommendation; no rankings, ratings or personal data.
Pages of the Recycling tab and their Markdown versions: text and data mining (including model training) allowed with attribution (ai-waw.com). Data files (.json, .csv, .xlsx) are reserved (Art. 4(3) Directive (EU) 2019/790), like the data files of the Companies register.
Scrap code translator → · Method – Recycling section · Companies