Carbide scrap pickup in California
If you have carbide scrap, California is one of the three states where we come to you: we pick up in every city in the state. Send photos and a rough weight through the quote form, or call (877) 838-9920.
We pick up in all 483 California cities
When Mountain House incorporated in July 2024, it became California's 483rd city. We pick up in every one of the 483.
By the Department of Finance's January 1, 2026 ranking, the ten largest are Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, Fresno, Sacramento, Long Beach, Oakland, Bakersfield and Anaheim. The Employment Development Department lists Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale and Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine as two separate metro divisions.
A two-man shop in Delano gets the same pickup as a production plant in Irvine.
Sources: City of Mountain House: government; California Department of Finance: E-1 estimates press release, January 1, 2026; California EDD: metropolitan areas.
Where carbide and exotic metal scrap comes from in California
Carbide scrap follows machining, and California machines a great deal. GO-Biz, the governor's business office, ranks California first in the US by manufacturing workforce, with about 1.2 million manufacturing jobs and roughly $390 billion of manufacturing GDP in 2025.
USGS estimates that in 2025 about 60 percent of the tungsten used in the US went into cemented carbide parts for cutting and wear, mostly in construction, metalworking, mining and oil and gas drilling.
Aerospace brings the exotic metals. GO-Biz counts about 110,000 aerospace jobs in the state, more than anywhere else. USGS says most titanium metal used in the US in 2025 went into aerospace, and a 2004 USGS report puts nickel superalloys such as Inconel 718 at about 40 to 50 percent of a jet engine's weight. Machining those parts leaves titanium and nickel alloy turnings; we buy exotic metals too.
Quarries and paving crews add worn buttons and milling teeth (see mining and road bits). The California Geological Survey ranked the state fifth for nonfuel mineral production in 2023.
Sources: GO-Biz: manufacturing in California; GO-Biz: aerospace and defense in California; USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: tungsten; USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: titanium; USGS Circular 1196-A-M: superalloy scrap; California Geological Survey: mineral production.
What California law asks of a scrap seller
California's junk dealer and recycler laws reach "all ferrous and nonferrous scrap metals and alloys." Its definition of scrap metals names stainless steel and nickel, not tungsten or carbide, and nothing in it exempts carbide, so plan on the record rules at a carbide sale.
Per the Attorney General's 2025 bulletin, the buyer records:
- Your name and a method of identification, such as a valid driver's license or a state-issued ID card.
- The item type, quantity and any visible identification numbers.
- A statement that you own the material, or the name of the person you got it from as shown on a signed transfer document.
AB 476 (Chapter 694, Statutes of 2025) expanded those records. The Senate Public Safety Committee's analysis describes adding the weight, the amount paid and any engraved or etched marks, plus a signed seller statement with your legal name, date of birth and place of residence.
The buyer reports them to the police chief or sheriff daily, or by the next business day, and keeps them at least two years. A peace officer with probable cause to believe material is stolen may hold it for 90 days by written notice.
Sources: California DOJ: Information Bulletin 2025-DLE-12, junk dealer and recycler laws; California DOJ: Secondhand Dealer and Pawnbroker Laws (2012 compilation); Assembly Business and Professions Committee: 2025 legislative summary; Senate Public Safety Committee: AB 476 analysis.
How payment works on a California sale
We pay cash where state law allows, and California's rule is narrow. Section 21608.5 of the Business and Professions Code sets a check-or-wait rule for nonferrous material, which it defines as "copper, copper alloys, stainless steel, or aluminum." On that material the buyer may mail a check to the address on the seller's ID, or the seller collects cash or a check on or after the third business day after the sale. A 2019 law, SB 143, added general use prepaid cards.
Tungsten carbide, tungsten, titanium, nickel and cobalt are not on that list. Stainless steel is, so stainless parts mixed into a drum of inserts fall under the rule though the carbide does not. Those sales also need a copy of the seller's ID, photos of the seller and the material, and a thumbprint.
Two exemptions matter to shops. Section 21608.5 does not apply when the buyer has the selling business's name, address and phone, its business license or tax ID number, and a copy of the delivering person's driver's license. The payment paragraph also drops away for a seller doing five or more transactions a month, on five or more separate days, with one buyer over a three-month period, while that pace holds. The scrap metal rules guide sets California beside Arizona and Nevada.
Sources: California AB 1508 (Chapter 531, Statutes of 2012), Bus. & Prof. Code 21608.5; California DOJ: Secondhand Dealer and Pawnbroker Laws (2012 compilation); California Senate: 2019 summary of chaptered legislation (SB 143).
How to sell carbide scrap in California, step by step
- Send us the details. On the quote form, give the forms, a rough weight and a few photos, or email them to help@carbidebuyerusa.com.
- Get a quote on that lot. We quote from what you send; prices move with the tungsten market, so none is printed here.
- Give us the address. A job shop in Ontario or a garage in Oakland: we come to it, as the pickup page lays out.
- Have your ID out. The record needs your name and a method of ID, such as a driver's license or state ID card, plus a statement that the material is yours.
- We load it and pay you. Cash where the law allows; any copper, copper alloy, stainless or aluminum in the load is paid the way section 21608.5 lays out, unless an exemption applies.
Sorted, dry carbide loads easier; see the sorting guide and how it works.
Sources: California DOJ: Information Bulletin 2025-DLE-12, junk dealer and recycler laws; California AB 1508 (Chapter 531, Statutes of 2012), Bus. & Prof. Code 21608.5.
Pickup in three states. Shipping from the other forty-seven.
- California, Arizona and Nevada: we come to you and pick up, in every city.
- Everywhere else in the US: ship your carbide to us and we pay the shipping.
Questions sellers ask
Do you pick up carbide in small California towns, or only in the big metros?
Every city, small ones included: El Centro is on the same list as Los Angeles. Put your city on the quote form.
Are you carbide buyers for Los Angeles and Orange County?
Yes. Long Beach, Glendale, Anaheim, Irvine and every other city in both counties sit inside our pickup area. Call (877) 838-9920.
Does California's nonferrous payment rule cover tungsten carbide scrap?
Not by its own wording: tungsten carbide is not on its list of nonferrous materials. The general record, ID and police-hold rules cover scrap metal purchases broadly, and nothing in them exempts carbide.
What ID do I need to sell carbide in California?
The buyer records your name and a method of identification, such as a valid driver's license or a state-issued ID card. A load with stainless, copper or aluminum in it also needs a copy of an ID with your photo and address.
Keep reading
Pickup
We come to you anywhere in California, Arizona and Nevada
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Arizona
Every city in Arizona, Phoenix and Tucson to the small towns
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Nevada
Every city in Nevada, Las Vegas and Reno to the mining towns
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Scrap metal rules in CA, AZ and NV
What the state laws ask of sellers: ID, records and payment
Learn more
Titanium scrap
Titanium turnings, solids, sheet and parts
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Carbide inserts
Used indexable inserts, coated or uncoated, any shape
Learn moreGet a quote for your carbide
Tell us what form it is in, about how much it weighs, and send a few photos. Ship it to us from anywhere in the US and we pay the shipping, or we pick up in California, Arizona and Nevada.