Every foot is copper — what scrap network cable is worth, the copper math per category, and why clean pull-out should be resold, not scrapped.
Damaged, obsolete, unmarked, or just leftover — network cable that cannot be resold still carries copper: eight conductors per cable, 23–24 AWG of solid copper in every foot. At building scale, pull-out adds up to serious weight. This guide covers what scrap Cat cable is worth, what raises or lowers it, and why it should never hit the dumpster unpriced.
Clean pull-out is worth more as cable than as copper. Check resale first →
Four twisted pairs = 8 conductors. At 23 AWG solid copper, eight conductors carry roughly 0.0125 lbs of copper per foot — about 12–13 lbs of copper per 1,000 feet. (Total box weight with jacket, spline, and packaging runs about 30 lbs.) Cat6a’s thicker build carries more; shielded cable adds foil and drain wire. A mid-size office teardown pulling 50,000 feet is sitting on roughly half a ton of copper-bearing cable. The recovery value follows copper markets (we never publish prices — markets move daily), the copper percentage of the cable type, and how clean the material is.
Heavier categories (Cat6a > Cat6 > Cat5e — more copper per foot), shielded cable (extra metal), clean jacket (no paint, no tar, no mixed debris), and separated copper (ends stripped, connectors removed). Sort by category — mixed loads price at the lowest tier.
CCA cable (aluminum conductors — near-zero copper value; identify it before you haul it), burnt cable (fire jobs — copper oxidizes and jacket bonds to it), painted or tarred pull-out, and mixed loads with steel, fiber, or trash. Preparation is profit: an hour of sorting beats a day of arguing at the scale.
Clean, labeled, uncut pull-out: sell as cable (worth multiples of scrap). Damaged, unmarked, short, or CCA: sell as recovery. The most expensive mistake is scrapping resalable cable — and the second most expensive is paying to haul CCA expecting copper money. Photograph it; we will tell you which stream it belongs in.
Office, school, hospital, and data center teardowns generate cable by the ton — often abandoned in place above ceilings for decades. The playbook: inventory by category (jacket print), separate the clean resalable lengths from the damaged, strip the ends, keep CCA apart, and get one priced offer for the whole lot instead of ten trips to the yard. Ironcrest buys teardown cable at scale — see how to sell and our data center hub for facility-scale work.
As copper recovery, yes — eight copper conductors per cable add up at volume. Clean lengths may still have resale value; damaged goes to recovery.
Roughly 12–13 lbs of copper per 1000 feet (23 AWG solid copper, 8 conductors). Cat6a carries more; shielded adds foil and drain wire.
Barely — aluminum conductors have near-zero copper value. Identify CCA before hauling so expectations match reality.
Whole, jacketed cable has an established recovery market — stripping 24 AWG conductors by hand is rarely worth the labor. Strip the ends, remove connectors, sort by category.
Scrapping resalable cable (clean pull-out is worth multiples as cable) — and hauling CCA expecting copper money. A photo sorts it out in advance.
Jacket markings (category, footage, plenum/riser), box labels, and quantity. The jacket print is the entire specification.
Call or text 312-880-8174 or use the quote form. Tell us the category, footage, and whether it is new or pull-out.
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