Why does aluminium with paint or anodized coating pay less than bare aluminium?
Short answer: Coatings — paint, powder coat, or anodizing — burn off during remelting rather than turning into usable metal, so the smelter loses yield on that portion of the weight. The deduction reflects that processing loss, not a judgement on your metal's underlying quality.
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List Free →It’s a yield problem, not a quality problem
When a smelter remelts aluminium, only the metal becomes usable ingot — any coating either burns off as fumes or turns into dross that gets discarded, and it still has to be accounted for in the weight you’re paid for.
How much it matters
The deduction scales with coated surface area relative to thickness. A heavily painted, thin-gauge item loses a much higher share of its weight to burn-off than a thick, lightly coated extrusion.
What you can do
For small volumes, stripping paint isn’t worth the labour. For a larger volume — a stack of powder-coated frames — it can be worth asking the buyer directly what the coated-vs-bare gap actually is before deciding whether stripping a sample section is worthwhile.
How ScrapTrade Makes This Easier
On ScrapTrade, sellers note coating and condition directly in the listing, so any deduction is priced in upfront by competing buyers, not sprung on you after the truck’s already loaded.
Ready to sell or source aluminium scrap without the guesswork? ScrapTrade connects verified buyers and sellers with escrow-protected payments and transparent weighing.
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