Yes they give a fraction of the metal worth but got to understand there is lot things that must go on to become a salable product again.
They buy the metals, sort them, then sell the sorted metals to a recycling center which in turn sends them to smelter to become clean new metal products. Or at least that how it works here. I actually made a good living doing until everyone else got involved and was too lazy to sort the metal to get the best prices or getting into fist fights over a small pile of scrape.
I still save my metals, sort, and sell them just not at the volume I once did. I even reuse items like angle iron in my repairs so I don't need to buy a new piece of every time I to do a repair. It just like saving the good screws. Got to use good common sense as to what needs to be recycle and what can be reused.
