We buy production and industrial electronic scrap by the lot and by the ton
Manufacturing scrap, out-of-spec components and equipment retired from the plant floor. We value by composition, collect at your sites and close with settlement and documentation — not with a flat rate per kilo.
Business and institutional clients only — minimum 20 units per pickup.
- Valuation by composition
- Pickup at your plant
- Data destroyed where present
- Disposal record for your file
Production scrap is not the same as loose material
The difference is not size, it is process. Production scrap comes out of a manufacturing operation or an asset write-off: it arrives by pallet, container or ton, its composition is reasonably predictable, and it carries a requirement loose material does not — it has to end up documented, because somebody in the organization will eventually have to account for where it went.
So it gets valued and closed differently: valuation by lot against composition, scheduled collection with a pickup record and weighing, and formal settlement with a final-destination record. If what you have is loose material, or you want to understand how the price is formed in the first place, that is covered by our electronic scrap buyers page — also B2B only.
Streams we buy
Electronic production scrap
PCB trim and test panels, out-of-specification material, line rejects and assembly leftovers from your manufacturing process.
Components and sub-assemblies
Processors, memory, connectors, power supplies, heatsinks and sub-assemblies made obsolete by an engineering change or model rollover.
Wiring and harnesses
Harness waste, copper-bearing cable, windings and connectors. Valued on recoverable metal content, not on gross weight.
Retired IT equipment in volume
Decommissioned computer fleets, servers, network gear and storage. Note: if it can still be placed as equipment it is worth more than as material, and that value is yours — we tell you before buying it.
Process equipment and peripherals
Electronics manufacturing equipment, instruments, industrial printers and peripherals at end of life.
Streams with their own rules
Batteries, UPS units and other materials that may classify separately: segregated at pickup so each one travels with the right paperwork.
How we value a lot (and why there is no price per kilo)
A flat rate per kilo sounds convenient and almost always shortchanges someone. Two 100 kg pallets can differ several times over in value: one loaded with server boards and processors, the other with enclosures and plastic. A buyer who quotes by weight without seeing the material either underpays for what is valuable, or refuses what is not and leaves the problem with you.
What actually drives the offer:
- Composition of the lot. The dominant variable: density of recoverable metals per kilo of material.
- International metal prices. Copper, aluminium, gold, silver and palladium move daily on the metals markets, and the offer is anchored to that moment.
- Volume and consolidation. One lot at one address processes far cheaper than the same material spread across six sites, and that shows up in the offer.
- How contaminated the lot is. Material mixed with plastic, wood, oil or packaging needs separating first, and that lowers the offer. A lot segregated at source always pays better.
- Handling. Pallets ready on the dock do not cost the same as loose material that has to be gathered, packed and carried down stairs.
How to prepare the lot so it pays more
Most of what gets lost in a scrap sale is not lost in the negotiation: it is lost earlier, in how the material arrived at the dock. Four things that are entirely within your control and move the offer more than any haggling:
- Segregate at source, even roughly. No need to sort by alloy. Three streams is enough: boards and components in one, cable and copper in another, enclosures, chassis and plastics in a third. A lot like that values better and faster than a pallet where everything is mixed.
- Keep the material dry and uncontaminated. Line oil, coolant, broken pallet wood and mixed packaging force a separation step that adds no value and comes straight out of the price.
- Do not let the lot get stripped. An uncontrolled scrap store loses processors and memory \u2014 exactly the valuable part. If the material is going to sit for weeks, lock it and keep a log.
- Have an approximate weight and photos. With those we can value without visiting twice, and you can compare offers with the same information on the table.
How it works, step by step
- 01
Describe the lot
Material type, approximate volume (pallets, containers or tons), the sites it sits at, and whether this is a one-off liquidation or a recurring plant flow.
- 02
Valuation by composition
We classify and estimate recoverable content. The offer comes from what the lot actually contains and from international metal prices — not from a flat rate per kilo.
- 03
Firm proposal
You receive a proposal with scope, logistics and the documentation that comes with it. No obligation and no conditions buried in the fine print.
- 04
Pickup with chain of custody
We schedule collection at your sites with a pickup record and weighing. For qualifying volumes in the Tijuana metropolitan area, pickup is free.
- 05
Sanitization where applicable
If the lot includes storage media, data is destroyed with a per-serial-number certificate before anything else happens to the device.
- 06
Settlement and documentation
We close the purchase and hand over the disposal record and traceability for your environmental file and your ESG reporting.
For plants reporting to a U.S. parent
Scrap revenue is the easy part of this conversation. The part that gets escalated is the one where corporate asks what happened to the material — and "we sold it to a local buyer" is not an answer that survives an audit. A documented sale produces a pickup record with weights, a final-destination record and traceability, in English and Spanish, which is the same package your ESG reporting needs.
If your plant runs under an IMMEX program, note that some of this material cannot simply be sold: goods imported temporarily have to leave that customs regime in a defined way, which for production scrap often means destruction with a notice filed in advance. That is a different route, handled by your customs broker, and we do not take part in it — separate it from the lot before quoting so the rest does not stall. See cross-border ITAD for how the wider flow fits together.
Selling well is also complying
This is the part that disappears when the conversation becomes purely about price. Electronic scrap is special-handling waste in Mexico: selling it to an informal buyer gets you the cash and leaves you the liability, because in an audit you have no way to prove where the material ended up.
A documented sale solves both at once — you recover value and you generate exactly the evidence that supports your RAEE management plan and your ESG reporting. Same transaction; the difference is who you do it with.
The recurring plant programme: what should be in writing
A plant generating scrap every week should not be quoting every pickup. What solves the problem is a fixed programme, and what makes that programme survive a year is having these six things agreed at the start:
- Frequency and trigger. Pickup by calendar (weekly, fortnightly) or by level (when the container reaches a mark). Both work; mixing them without saying so is what creates friction.
- An agreed valuation method. Which streams are separated and how each is calculated. That way the price moves with the metal quote, not with who is negotiating that day.
- Who weighs, where, and with whom present. The point that generates the most disputes in the whole relationship.
- Report format and cadence. What your environmental team receives, what finance receives, and how often.
- What always gets separated. Batteries, storage media and branded product do not follow the same route as ordinary scrap. Defining it once avoids deciding it with the truck waiting.
- Contact and access window. Who authorises entry, during which hours, and under what plant safety requirements.
With that written down, material leaves the plant with paperwork every week without renegotiating the process, and your environmental team stops chasing receipts at quarter close.
What we do not buy
So the quote does not stall halfway, it helps to know where the boundary is. We do not handle non-electronic industrial waste \u2014 solvents, sludge, oils, biohazardous waste, tires \u2014 or paper records: those are different lines of business, with different equipment and different authorizations. Nor do we take part in the customs procedure for material under temporary import: that is handled by your customs broker.
If the same warehouse holds electronic scrap alongside any of those streams, say so when you describe the lot. It gets separated in advance and each stream follows its own route, instead of holding up the entire pickup on the day.
When the scrap carries your brand
Not everything gets sold. Non-conforming product, rejects and sub-assemblies carrying your brand, logo or your customer’s part number must not be able to re-enter the market. That material is handled as destruction rather than sale: destroyed so it cannot be recognized, with visual evidence of the process, and the resulting material recovered afterwards. If storage media are involved, they go first through certified data destruction.
Industries we buy from on the border
We work with Baja California industry and with corporate operations writing off equipment in volume:
Start by describing the lot
You do not need a detailed inventory. Knowing roughly what the material is, how much of it there is and where it sits is enough for us to advise you and put a valuation on it. Message us on WhatsApp or through the contact page.
Production scrap buyback questions
How is this different from just selling scrap material?
Volume and process. Production scrap arrives by pallet, container or ton, with a reasonably predictable composition, and it comes from a manufacturing line or an asset write-off — which means someone in the company will eventually have to explain where it went. So it is valued by lot against composition, collected on a schedule with a pickup record and weighing, and closed with formal settlement and a disposal record. If what you have is loose material rather than a plant flow, our electronic scrap buyers page covers that, also B2B only.
Do you buy by the ton or by the lot?
Both, depending on the material. A steady flow of production scrap works well by the ton with scheduled pickups; an inventory liquidation or an asset write-off is valued better as a complete lot. What we do not do is quote a flat price per kilo without seeing composition: that is the fastest route to an unfair valuation for one side or the other.
How do you determine what our scrap is worth?
By recoverable content, not gross weight. What drives it: the composition of the lot (a pallet of server boards and a pallet of enclosures weigh the same and are worth very different amounts), international metal prices which move daily, and total volume and consolidation. One important note: if the lot contains equipment that can still be placed as equipment, it is worth more there than anything we can pay for its material — we will tell you, because that income is yours and we resell nothing.
Can you handle a recurring plant flow rather than one-off pickups?
Yes, and that is where the model works best. A maquiladora generating scrap continuously should not have to quote every removal: we set a pickup frequency, an agreed valuation method and a reporting format, so material leaves the plant with paperwork every week or every month without renegotiating the process each time.
What if the scrap carries our brand or our customer’s part number?
It is handled as destruction, not as a material sale. Non-conforming product carrying your brand must not be able to re-enter the market or be identified: we destroy it so that becomes impossible, with visual evidence, and recover the material afterwards. If the material came in under temporary import, note that the customs write-off has its own procedure before the SAT, handled by your customs broker — we do not take part in it. Separate it from the lot before quoting.
Do you buy from individuals?
No. This is a business-to-business service for companies, maquiladoras and institutions, with a minimum of 20 units per pickup or the equivalent in material volume. We handle valuation, logistics and documentation at a corporate level.
Does selling scrap help with our Mexican environmental compliance?
Yes, as long as it is documented. Electronic scrap is special-handling waste under Mexican law. Selling it to a formal provider who gives you a pickup record and a final-destination record produces exactly the evidence that supports your RAEE management plan under NOM-161. Selling to an informal buyer gets you the cash and leaves you the liability: in an audit you cannot show where the material ended up.
How can we be sure of the weight?
By requiring that the weighing be recorded on the pickup document, signed at your site at the moment of collection by both the party handing over and the party receiving. It is the single biggest source of disputes in this business: if the weight is established later, on someone else’s scale with nobody from your side present, you have stopped selling and started accepting. Our standard procedure is to weigh and sign before the material moves.
Can we segregate the material ourselves to get a better price?
Yes, and it is usually the most profitable way to improve the offer. You do not need to sort by alloy: separating boards and components, cable and copper, and enclosures and plastics is enough. A lot segregated at source values better than the same quantity mixed, because it saves us the separation step. If your plant generates continuously, it is worth setting up three containers where the scrap originates.
Do you buy scrap with storage media inside it?
Yes, but they are handled separately. Any drive, SSD or memory holding data is pulled from the lot during pickup, physically destroyed and certified by serial number. It never enters the material flow without going through that first, because a medium with information on it is not scrap: it is a liability under the Mexican LFPDPPP.
Do you collect, or do we have to deliver?
We collect. We schedule pickup at your plant, warehouse or distribution center in Tijuana, Rosarito, Tecate, Ensenada and Mexicali, with a pickup record and weighing on site. For qualifying corporate volumes within the metropolitan area pickup is free; smaller volumes or outlying areas are evaluated case by case.