The difference between ferrous and
nonferrous metal

Metals are classified by their content, and primarily the division is ferrous vs. nonferrous. Ferrous metals contain iron and nonferrous metals do not. Advantage Metals Recycling sorts, processes and markets scrap metals within these two main categories.

Ferrous scrap metal includes all types and shapes of iron and steel. Even though all ferrous scrap metal is magnetic, there are many different grades of scrap because of the different chemical compositions and processing methods of various steel and iron types.

Nonferrous scrap metals include all forms of metals that do not contain iron or steel and are not magnetic. Common types of nonferrous metals are aluminum, copper, brass, stainless steel, zinc and lead.