Copper scrap is sorted into grades based on purity and cleanliness, and the grade sets the price. The main grades are bare bright, #1, #2, and insulated wire. Bare bright pays the most per pound. Insulated wire pays the least. Getting the grade right is the difference between fair pay and getting shortchanged.
The gap matters. When a buyer calls your #1 copper “#2,” the price drop is real and most sellers never catch it. Copper is one of the highest-value common scrap metals, so a small grading error costs real money on every load.
This guide explains each grade, how to tell them apart, and the handling mistakes that quietly cut your payout.
How Copper Scrap Grades Are Set
Copper grades come down to three things: purity, cleanliness, and form. The cleaner and more pure the copper, the closer to the raw copper price you get paid. Two words come up a lot in the grades below. Unalloyed means pure copper, not mixed with other metals. Uncoated means no tin, solder, or paint on the surface. Coatings, solder, paint, oxidation, and attachments all drag the grade down.
The industry standard comes from the Recycled Materials Association, formerly ISRI, and its Scrap Specifications Circular. That document defines each grade with a code word. Bare bright is “Barley.” Clean #1 copper wire is “Berry.” Number 2 copper wire is “Birch.” Mills and reputable dealers grade against these specs.
Price follows purity. Scrap grades are quoted as a discount to the copper market price on the COMEX exchange. Bare bright sits closest to that market price. Each step down widens the discount, because the mill has to do more work to refine the metal.
One caution. Individual yards apply their own house rules on top of the standard, so a grade line can shift from one buyer to the next. Always get the grade and price in writing, broken out by material.
Bare Bright Copper: The Top Grade
Bare bright is bare, uncoated, unalloyed copper wire that is bright and shiny, with no oxidation. It runs about 99% copper or higher, and it is usually at least 16-gauge, roughly the thickness of a paperclip. This is the cleanest, highest-paying copper grade.
To spot it, look for a fresh, salmon-pink copper color with no darkening, no coating, and no attachments. It is wire only, not tubing. The classic source is building wire like THHN or Romex that has been cleanly stripped of its insulation.
Bare bright pays the most because it is closest to refined copper and needs the least processing. If you generate a lot of heavy insulated wire, clean stripping is what turns it into this top grade.
#1 Copper: Clean but Not Shiny
Number 1 copper is clean, uncoated, unalloyed copper that has dulled or tarnished but carries no solder, paint, or coating. It also runs about 99% copper. The grade covers two common forms. Clean copper tubing and heavy solids fall under the code “Candy.” Clean, untinned wire falls under “Berry.”
To spot it, look for solid copper color that is darker or duller than bare bright, not bright and shiny. Clean copper pipe with no solder, no paint, and no fittings belongs here. So do bus bars, clippings, and heavier copper pieces that are free of contamination.
The only real difference from bare bright is the shine. Number 1 copper is clean and pure, just oxidized on the surface, so it pays slightly less.
#2 Copper: Contaminated or Coated
Number 2 copper is copper that carries solder, paint, coatings, or heavy oxidation, or that has fittings and attachments. It runs a nominal 96% copper, with a 94% minimum. The code words are “Birch” for wire and “Cliff” for solids and tubing.
To spot it, look for heavy green corrosion, solder blobs, paint, tinned wire, or copper pipe with brass fittings and soldered joints still attached. Thinner copper wire that is not clean also lands here.
Number 2 pays noticeably less than #1 because the mill must remove the contamination before refining. This is where most downgrade disputes happen. Cleaning solder and fittings off your tubing can lift it from #2 to #1 and raise the per-pound rate.
Insulated Copper Wire: Priced by Recovery
Insulated copper wire, code “Druid,” is priced by how much copper you recover after stripping the insulation, not by the gross weight on the scale. Two identical-looking bundles can pay very differently based on the copper inside.
Recovery drives the value:
- Heavy insulated wire. Thick building wire like THHN has a high copper-to-insulation ratio and pays the most in this category.
- Lighter insulated wire. Extension cords and appliance cords hold less copper per pound, so they pay less.
- Low-grade wire. Data cable, phone wire, and holiday lights carry very little copper and sit at the bottom.
Shredded insulated wire is sold under the code “Zeyda,” with a recovery percentage attached to the price. The takeaway is simple. Buyers pay for recoverable copper, so the thicker the copper and the thinner the insulation, the better the rate.
Copper Grade Comparison at a Glance
Here is how the four grades line up on the factors that set your price.
| Grade | ISRI/ReMA code | What it is | Copper content | Relative value |
| Bare bright | Barley | Bright, clean, bare copper wire | ~99%+ | Highest |
| #1 copper | Berry, Candy | Clean but dull copper wire, tubing, and solids | ~99% | High |
| #2 copper | Birch, Cliff | Copper with solder, paint, coatings, or fittings | 94 to 96% | Moderate |
| Insulated wire | Druid, Zeyda | Copper wire with insulation, priced by recovery | Varies | Lowest per pound |
Common Grading Mistakes That Cost You Money
Most lost value comes from handling, not from the market. A few habits quietly shrink your check on every load.
- Mixing grades in one load. A blended pile usually gets graded at the lowest common rate. Sort bare bright, #1, #2, and insulated wire into separate piles before you sell.
- Leaving solder, paint, and fittings on tubing. These push clean copper down from #1 to #2. Cleaning it pays off.
- Burning insulation off wire. Open burning of wire is illegal under clean-air rules in most areas, and it downgrades bright copper into a dirty, brittle, lower grade. Strip it, do not burn it.
- Not stripping heavy wire. Above a break-even gauge and quantity, stripping thick wire to bare bright pays more than selling it insulated. On thin wire, the labor is not worth it.
- Accepting a price with no breakdown. A check with no grade-by-grade detail gives you no way to catch a downgrade. Always ask for the numbers.
How to Make Sure You Get the Right Grade and Price
Protecting your payout comes down to four habits: sort by grade, keep each grade clean, insist on certified scales, and get a written grade-by-grade settlement. Do those and a downgrade has nowhere to hide.
The buyer’s business model matters too. A traditional dealer profits by buying low and selling high, which creates an incentive to undergrade your material and pad the margin. That is the conflict of interest built into most scrap transactions.
Millbridge Metals works the other way. As a broker and third-party manager, we earn more when you earn more, so our grading has to be accurate. We use certified scales and analytical tools to identify every alloy, we benchmark pricing against live market rates and place your copper through our mill brokerage network, and we hand you a settlement report that shows the weight, grade, and price for every material. We are a member of the Recycled Materials Association, and accurate grading is the core of how we work.
For teams that generate copper regularly, capturing full value is a system, not a one-time sort. Our guides on demolition scrap procurement and the manufacturing scrap audit go deeper for demo crews and plants.
Copper Scrap Grade FAQs
What is the difference between bare bright and #1 copper?
The difference is the shine. Bare bright is bright, clean, bare copper wire with no oxidation. Number 1 copper is just as clean and unalloyed but has dulled or tarnished on the surface, and it can include clean tubing and solids. Both run about 99% copper, and bare bright pays a little more.
Is copper tubing #1 or #2?
It depends on cleanliness. Clean copper pipe with no solder, paint, or fittings grades as #1 copper. Copper pipe with soldered joints, brass fittings, paint, or heavy corrosion grades as #2 and pays less. Removing the contamination before you sell can move tubing up to the higher grade.
How is insulated copper wire priced?
Insulated wire is priced by recoverable copper, not gross weight. Buyers estimate how much copper is inside after the insulation is stripped, then pay against that yield. Thick wire with a high copper-to-insulation ratio, like THHN building wire, pays the most in this category.
Should I strip my copper wire before selling?
Strip heavy-gauge wire, since clean bare copper pays far more than insulated wire. For thin wire, the copper recovery is low and the labor rarely pays off, so selling it as insulated wire usually makes more sense. Weigh the gauge and quantity against your time.
Is it legal to burn the insulation off copper wire?
No. Open burning of insulated wire is illegal under the federal Clean Air Act and most state and local open-burning rules. It also downgrades your copper into a dirty, brittle grade worth less than clean bare bright, so it costs you twice.
Know Your Grades, Get Paid for Them
Copper is valuable, and it stays valuable. It is 100% recyclable with no loss of quality. Recycling it uses about 85% less energy than mining new copper, which is why recycled copper holds most of its market value. That value only reaches your pocket if the grade is called correctly.
Millbridge Metals grades every load accurately, weighs on certified scales, and shows you the numbers for every material. Whether you are a demolition crew tearing out wire, a plumber pulling copper pipe, or a facility with recurring output, we make sure your copper gets the grade it earns. See how our scrap metal dealer services work, or contact us for a free scrap assessment and a quote you can verify.