Clean aluminium radiator cores run roughly $0.28 to $0.54 per pound, so a typical 12 pound car radiator returns about $3 to $4.20 once the tanks are off. Left whole with plastic tanks attached it is graded as dirty aluminium. The plastic is not deducted, it is discarded.
Two rates: with tanks and without
The scrap industry uses formal ISRI specification names for these, and knowing them helps when you are talking to a yard.
- Tabloid. Clean, uncoated aluminium radiators, free from tanks, iron frames and contaminants.
- Taboo. Mixed or contaminated radiators containing steel tanks, side brackets or fibreglass.
A modern car radiator with plastic end tanks still fitted falls into the second category at most yards. It is not that the plastic weighs against you. It is that the whole unit gets graded down.
How much of a radiator is actually metal
This is where the arithmetic surprises people.
A clean aluminium radiator is 85 percent or more aluminium by weight once prepared. That sounds like the plastic is trivial, and by weight it nearly is.
But one pricing model values a whole aluminium and plastic radiator against the mixed aluminium rate with a 55 percent recovery rate applied. The plastic is a small share of the weight and a large share of the problem, because it forces the yard to process rather than melt.
One recycler puts the outcome plainly: if a side tank is plastic, it gets discarded and you are paid only for the metal core. So the radiator scrap value question is not what the plastic weighs. It is which rate the remaining metal earns.
Today’s rates by grade
Route or component Basis Notes Value today (USD) Measurement What the figure is based on What changes it Computed from the live rate unless marked a reference Clean core, tanks removed (ISRI Tabloid) 8 to 20 lb Sheet or prepared aluminium grade, $0.28 to $0.54 per lb $2.20 to $11 Whole unit with plastic tanks (ISRI Taboo) 8 to 20 lb gross Graded dirty; you are paid for the core only $2.00 to $7.00 Typical 12 lb car radiator, cleaned 12 lb The most commonly quoted worked example $3.00 to $4.20 Heavy truck aluminium radiator 40 to 80 lb Class 7 and 8 vehicles; cleaned $12 to $43 Plastic tanks and fittings Removed weight No scrap value; discarded rather than deducted $0.00 to $0.00
A note on a figure that confuses many people. You will see aluminium radiators quoted at around $3 to $4.50, and that is per radiator rather than per pound.
The aluminum radiator price per pound is much lower: North American averages have been published at $0.28 to $0.48 for clean units, with other sources quoting $0.25 to $0.35, and a scrapper reporting around $0.54 for properly prepared cores sold as sheet or prepared aluminium.
Multiply that by a 12 pound radiator and you land at the $3 to $4.20 figure. Both numbers are right; they measure different things.
The ten-minute cut: worth it?
On aluminium, yes, and the advice here is unusually consistent across sources.
Cutting the plastic end tanks off moves the core from a dirty or mixed grade to clean aluminium, sometimes quoted as aluminium extrusion. Recyclers on both sides of the world give the same instruction: remove the plastic tanks from an aluminium radiator, and remove any steel lines with them.
That matters because the grade difference is proportionally large on a low-value item. Going from roughly $0.25 to roughly $0.54 per pound is not a large sum on one radiator, but it is close to double.
There is a limit worth being honest about. On a single 12 pound radiator the cut might add two dollars. On a pile of twenty, it is worth an afternoon.
The rule that reverses on copper
Here is the detail that catches out anyone who scraps both types, and it is the opposite of what you might assume.
Aluminium radiator: cut the tanks off. The core earns a clean grade that the assembled unit does not.
Copper-brass radiator: leave it whole. The yard assesses the entire unit on its copper content, and separating it yourself gains nothing and may cost you.
So the radiator with plastic tanks rate question has a different answer depending on what the core is made of. The copper-brass radiator page covers that side, including how to tell the two apart in seconds with a file.
Draining, and why yards insist
A drained radiator scrap sale is the only kind most yards will accept.
Coolant must be out before transport, for safety and because yards cannot take units with fluid inside. Some will simply refuse a wet radiator at the gate.
Drain it completely, let it stand to finish dripping, and dispose of the coolant properly. It should not go down a household drain or onto the ground. This is the same rule the differential page covers for gear oil, and it gets more loads turned away than any pricing dispute.
Condensers and the copper cousin
Two related items are worth separating rather than lumping in.
An air conditioning condenser looks similar and sits just in front of the radiator, but construction varies. Where it contains copper tubing the ac condenser scrap price is considerably better than plain aluminium, so check before it goes in the same pile.
An aluminium copper radiator, known in the trade as ACR, has copper tubes with aluminium fins and is common in air conditioning and refrigeration. The aluminum copper radiator price sits between full copper and full aluminium, which makes it worth keeping separate from both.
Processors separate these mechanically because the blended value is higher. One shredding operation reports that splitting a radiator into copper and aluminium fractions yields $2.80 to $3.20 per pound on the copper and $0.50 to $0.60 on the aluminium, exceeding the whole-radiator price by $0.40 to $0.80 per pound before processing cost. You cannot replicate that by hand, but it explains why mixed-metal units are graded the way they are.
Radiator prices around the world
Aluminium settles in US dollars, so the metal in a radiator is worth the same everywhere. Currency and local buyer depth are what change.
Market Equivalent range Local market note United States $2.00 to 43.00 Deepest buyer pool. Even within the US, state to state runs $50 to $60 per ton apart. United Kingdom £1.42 to 30.54 Strong processing capacity. Battery and PGM material reported 20 to 40 percent above thin markets. Canada C$2.68 to 57.69 Similar structure to the US; thinner in the prairies and the north. Australia A$2.64 to 56.69 Good coastal capacity, long hauls inland. Distance is the main discount. Germany €1.76 to 37.77 Dense processing and strict documentation. Good grades pay well; paperwork matters. India ₹173.97 to 3,740 Large volume, but black mass export restrictions have compressed local payables. Bangladesh ৳216.35 to 4,652 Ferrous depth is good. Specialist converter, PGM and battery buyers are scarce. United Arab Emirates AED6.98 to 150.02 Re-export hub with real processing depth. Among the better-paying markets outside the West. Saudi Arabia SAR6.98 to 149.96 Growing capacity; specialist PGM and battery buyers still limited. Turkey ₺100.80 to 2,167 Major ferrous importer, so steel grades hold up better than non-ferrous here. South Africa R27.13 to 583.24 Reported below UAE and UK on battery material; processing infrastructure is the constraint. China CN¥13.17 to 283.16 Aggressive bidder on imported battery material; 2026 recycling rules moved payables down.
Treat these as the metal-value anchor rather than a local quote. Grade names differ by market, so describe the unit and what is attached rather than asking for a grade by name.
Questions people actually ask
“Should I remove plastic from radiator tanks before I go?”
On an aluminium radiator, yes. It moves the core into a clean grade worth close to double the dirty rate. On a copper-brass radiator, no, sell it whole.
“The yard quoted four dollars. Is that per pound?”
Almost certainly per radiator. Aluminium radiator scrap runs roughly a quarter to half a dollar per pound, and a typical car unit weighs 8 to 20 pounds.
“What is talc radiator grade?”
You are probably thinking of the ISRI names Tabloid and Taboo, which cover clean and contaminated aluminium radiators respectively. Yards use those terms among themselves rather than with walk-in sellers.
Common mistakes
- Reading a per-radiator quote as a per-pound rate, then feeling short-changed at the scale.
- Leaving plastic tanks on an aluminium core, which drops the whole unit to a dirty grade.
- Cutting the tanks off a copper-brass radiator, where the opposite rule applies.
- Arriving with coolant still inside, which gets units refused rather than merely discounted.
- Mixing condensers and ACR units in with plain aluminium radiators, when both can be worth more.
- Spending an hour cleaning one radiator worth four dollars. Batch the job or skip it.
- Assuming the plastic is deducted by weight. It is discarded, and the grade is what actually moves.
Figures on this page are indicative buyer references rather than futures-linked rates, drawn from published grade surveys and recycler guidance current in 2026. Per-pound and per-unit figures are stated separately because the two are routinely confused. Confirm locally before cutting anything.
Frequently asked questions
What is the aluminum radiator scrap price today?
Clean aluminium radiator cores run roughly $0.28 to $0.54 per pound depending on the source and yard, so a typical 12 pound car radiator returns about $3 to $4.20 once the tanks are removed. Quotes you see around $3 to $4.50 are per radiator rather than per pound.
Should I remove the plastic from a radiator before scrapping?
On an aluminium radiator, yes. Cutting the plastic end tanks off moves the core from a dirty or mixed grade to clean aluminium, which is worth close to double per pound. On a copper-brass radiator the advice reverses: sell it whole so the yard assesses the copper content.
Is the plastic weight deducted from what I am paid?
No, and this is the common misunderstanding. The plastic is discarded rather than deducted, and you are paid for the metal core only. What actually changes your payment is the grade the remaining metal is assigned, not the weight of the plastic.
What is the clean aluminum radiator price per pound?
Published North American averages have run $0.28 to $0.48 per pound for clean units, with other sources quoting $0.25 to $0.35 and a scrapper reporting around $0.54 for cores properly prepared and sold as sheet or prepared aluminium.
What are the ISRI grades for aluminium radiators?
Tabloid covers clean, uncoated aluminium radiators free from tanks, iron frames and contaminants. Taboo covers mixed or contaminated radiators containing steel tanks, side brackets or fibreglass. A modern radiator with plastic tanks still attached usually falls into the second.
How much of an aluminium radiator is actually metal?
A prepared clean radiator is 85 percent or more aluminium by weight. Despite that, one pricing model applies a 55 percent recovery rate to whole aluminium and plastic units, because the plastic forces processing rather than direct melting.
Do I have to drain the coolant first?
Yes. Yards cannot accept radiators with fluid still inside and many will refuse a wet unit at the gate. Drain it completely, let it stand to finish dripping, and dispose of the coolant properly rather than down a drain or onto the ground.
What is the ac condenser scrap price compared to a radiator?
Often better, because condensers frequently contain copper tubing. They sit just in front of the radiator and look similar, so check the construction before putting one in the same pile as plain aluminium.
What is the aluminum copper radiator price?
It sits between full copper and full aluminium rates. ACR units have copper tubes with aluminium fins and are common in air conditioning and refrigeration, which makes them worth separating from both plain aluminium radiators and copper-brass ones.
Is cutting the tanks off worth the time?
On one radiator it might add two dollars, which is marginal. On a batch of twenty it is worth an afternoon, since the grade change is close to a doubling of the per-pound rate. Batch the job rather than doing it one unit at a time.