Sunwest Metals

This place is awful. Give them your scrap and no payment still for over a month!!! Do not do business with them ever!!! Left several messages no return calls and still no money. Beware!!!

Total disorganized mess. They only take crv and nothing else. They could afford to be nicer.

Rip off!
I brought scrap metal to them… 2 second without explaining they took it all for the scale and dump it.
That paid me half of what the cheapest guys in Santa Ana pay… I won’t recommend them at all!

Great. Just a crazy nightmare on weekends!

This is my go-​to recycling center. Way better than the others around the area. Bob T. expressed my feelings about this place rather well.
Been using this business for several years, why go anywhere else?
Best prices, they do the work, pretty quick service. you stay clean.
They accept all competitors coupons! Check your Pennysaver first. And you’ll end with more $$ in your pocket!
Simple service. Pull in, they unload your stuff, and bam you’re off to see the man to get your cash.
— one star cause its a PITA to maneuver my big truck (5 – 6 point turn) in and out. Plus I worry about getting a flat from the random debris in they’re yard.
Still this is the best place I’ve found for recycling bottles and cans. Others like Star off the 5 freeway do industrial stuff better.
I’ll be back!

Added edit note (2013): I no longer go here — my new «go to» place is DBW Metals Recycling in East Anaheim — 5 stars from me! After going there, SW Metals is a 3.5 round up. I’d go back if the other place closed down for some reason. If Sunwest is much closer to you it’s fine. I’m between the two and prefer DBW for several reasons. Check out my review —
Sunwest Metals is a large facility that serves residential and commercial customers. It’s not at all like the recycling storage trailers in grocery stores parking lots. I take my recyclables in every couple of months or so — when I have about 4 – 5 large bags of plastic bottles and 2 – 3 kitchen size bags of crushed cans. The thing I like about this place is once I throw the bags in the back of the truck at home — I’m done with them — it’s pretty much drive through after that — you pull in and wait in line in your car — sometimes it’s very busy, other times I have pulled right up to the scales (I don’t go often enough to remember the «best» times to go, sorry!) When busy it can be a little crazy/​intimidating at first, especially if you happen to be there when the semi’s are delivering or picking up material.
If you pull in and start to think «WTH has Bob gotten me into here» don’t worry, just relax, keep your eyes on the workers — they direct traffic and might ask you to pull around someone to keep the line going; and it does go pretty smoothly. What makes it great is when you get to one of the weigh stations, just sit back as the staff unloads your car, puts the material into those wire baskets and weighs them for you. You can see the scales and the readout from your car — having a truck works out great for this, but plenty of people just pop the trunk, hatchback or whatever you have. You will see a guy in charge of the area, he will hand you a printed invoice that details the materials, price per pound and the amount of pounds you brought tin. It is very professional, there is no wondering about what you are getting credited for.
Almost always you can drive straight ahead and around a little circular path through the piles of scrap metal which brings you out the same way you came in — without having to do a U or 3 point turn. The first time I’m like «where the heck am I going, I can’t get out of here» some people don’t realize they can follow this route — and just start turning around — that’s a pain in the butt — go around if you can, occasionally it is blocked by some work — I always ask if I can go around, and would suggest you do so as well.
After that there are some parking places where you park and go to the window to collect your cash. It’s easier than having to go inside a store as some places make you do, but it would be great if there was drive up window. Drive thru cash would be my one of my improvements — along with a little better signage for first timers!
Sunwest will accept most competitors coupons, has a website for further info, and provides their own coupon online — you can always get a good deal. They take other scrap metal as well — over the years I’ve been happy to just get rid of some stuff — getting a few bucks was a bonus! I usually drive out of there with 50 – 75 dollars, and knowing that you are helping the environment — it’s a win-​win!

Recycling rocks!
I’m notorious for recycling whatever I can, but I still enjoy separating the cans and bottles (and sometimes glass) and holding them aside to take to the recycle yard instead of dumping into the recycle bin that goes out every week.
Aside from getting a little spending money out of this, it’s also a good way for me to visualize just how much waste I create. If all I hold aside are just the bottles and cans and I manage to accumulate so much of it over time, how much else am I dumping into landfills?! Ack!
Anyway, after a few years of accumulating crushed aluminum cans and plastic bottles in the garage, I filled up my car and drove to Anaheim (we were going there anyway) to get a couple more bags from my parents’ house and finally get some cold hard ca$h for this stuff.
On this trip, we brought in 33.5 lbs of glass, 57.8 lbs of aluminum, and 43 lbs of plastic. For all that, we left with $ 139.71!
HOLY COW!
I’ve found that Sunwest’s rates are the best, especially if you use the coupon in the local Pennysaver.
Of course, you can recycle all kinds of other stuff, too: newspapers, copper, etc, etc. But I just do aluminum cans, glass, and plastic bottles.
Thanks, Sunwest!