Guide
Is cast iron worth anything as scrap?
Cast iron is recyclable and always taken, but it is a low-value ferrous metal: its weight is worth far more as effort than as money. For a household the sensible aim is to get it removed free rather than to try to sell it. We collect cast iron baths, radiators, sinks, gates and cookware across Glasgow at no charge.
What cast iron is
Cast iron is iron with a high carbon content, poured into moulds. It is brittle, very heavy and rusts to a dull brown. In a Glasgow home it turns up as old baths, column radiators, kitchen sinks, guttering and downpipes, fireplaces and grates, railings and gates, cookware and the occasional garden bench. A magnet sticks to it firmly, which is the quickest way to tell it apart from aluminium or brass.
Why it is worth so little for its weight
Scrap value follows what the metal is worth to a mill. Copper, brass, aluminium and lead are non-ferrous and comparatively valuable. Cast iron and steel are ferrous, plentiful and cheap to make new, so they are worth a small fraction of that and are traded by the tonne rather than the kilo. A cast iron bath weighing 120 kilograms is a lot of metal but not a lot of money, and by the time it has been lifted, transported and processed there is very little left in it.
That is why nobody advertises for cast iron the way they advertise for copper, and why yards are unenthusiastic about a single bath arriving in a car boot. We do not publish prices and we do not buy cast iron; we collect it free because the metal covers the cost of the collection.
Baths, radiators, sinks and cookware
Baths: the classic problem item. Too heavy for two people to carry down a tenement stair safely, too big for a council uplift in many areas. We collect them, including from upper floors; tell us the floor and the stair layout.
Radiators: old column radiators in good condition are sometimes wanted by restorers, so if you are not in a hurry it can be worth asking a reclamation yard first. Rusted, leaking or painted-over ones are scrap and we take them.
Sinks, guttering, fire surrounds and grates: all collected. Cookware: a few pans are not worth a collection on their own, but we will take them with other metal.
Getting rid of cast iron in Glasgow
- Text a photo and your postcode. Cast iron is heavy, so we plan how many people to bring.
- Leave it where we can reach it if you can: garden, close, drive. If it is upstairs, that is fine, just say so.
- You do not need to break it up. Cast iron shatters unpredictably and the shards are sharp; leave it whole.
- Standard collection is free. Anything unusual, like a bath four floors up with no lift, is agreed before we come.
Questions about this
Will you take a cast iron bath from an upstairs bathroom?
Yes. Tell us the floor and whether the stair is straight or winding so we send enough people.
Do you pay for cast iron?
No. Cast iron is low-value ferrous metal; we collect it free rather than buying it.
Is it worth trying to sell cast iron myself?
Rarely. The exceptions are restorable column radiators, fireplaces and some cookware, which have a resale value to the right buyer that has nothing to do with scrap. Everything else is best collected.
How do I know if something is cast iron?
A magnet sticks hard, it is heavier than it looks, and if it is old and outdoors it will be rusting brown. Aluminium is light and non-magnetic; brass is yellow and non-magnetic.
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Got metal to shift?
Send a photo and your postcode. You will get a straight answer and a time.