The non-magnetic metal fraction from a car shredder after eddy-current separation — mostly aluminium with copper, brass, zinc, stainless and magnesium pieces — sold on an aluminium-content basis.
The non-magnetic metal fraction from a car shredder after eddy-current separation — mostly aluminium with copper, brass, zinc, stainless and magnesium pieces — sold on an aluminium-content basis.
When a shredder processes cars and appliances, the magnet takes the steel, and the remaining metal is lifted from the fluff by eddy-current separators. That lifted product is Zorba: a dry, loose mix of aluminium pieces with smaller amounts of copper, brass, zinc, stainless steel, lead and magnesium. The ReMA grade describes it by its metal content and the size range it was screened to, with sellers stating the expected aluminium percentage.
Zorba is a starting material, not a finished grade. It is sorted further — by heavy-media separation, X-ray or laser sorters — into Twitch (the aluminium fraction) and the heavies (Zebra), each of which sells for more than the mixed product.
The United States and Europe produce Zorba in enormous volume and historically shipped most of it to China. Chinese restrictions on mixed scrap pushed the sorting to Malaysia, Thailand, India, Japan and South Korea, and to new domestic sorting plants in the US and Europe that make Twitch for local smelters. Zorba is shipped in containers, with the aluminium content and the piece size written into every contract.
The aluminium percentage, the piece size, the moisture, and the share of non-metallics (plastic, rubber, glass, foam) left after separation. A lot described as “98 per cent metal” with a stated aluminium content is the normal basis of sale; disputes centre on the assay.
Code: ReMA Zorba (shredded non-ferrous scrap, predominantly aluminium)
The main importing countries for this grade — each links to the country page with its mills, smelters, price references and named firms.