1. What the ISRI Circular Actually Contains
The Circular is organised by material family — copper and copper alloys, aluminum, lead, nickel/stainless, zinc, tin/solder, electronic scrap, ferrous — and assigns each grade a memorable name (Barley, Berry, Birch, Talc, Tata, Honey) plus a written specification. The specification covers chemistry where relevant, physical form, contamination tolerance, exclusions and typical applications.
The Circular is revised periodically by ISRI working committees with input from recyclers, refineries and consumers. The current edition is the reference for almost all 2026 international contracts. Buyers and sellers should both work from the same edition; older editions remain in circulation and minor specifications have shifted over time.
2. Copper Grades in the ISRI Circular
The headline copper grades: Barley (Millberry — bare bright wire 1/16"+ 99.95% Cu), Berry / Candy (clean wire under 1/16"), Birch (#1 heavy copper 96% Cu), Cliff (#2 mixed copper 94% Cu), Druid (insulated copper wire), Lake / Pales / Lace (lower-content copper-bearing materials). Brass grades: Honey (yellow brass solids), Ocean (mixed yellow brass), Pallu (brass turnings), Ebony (heavy copper-zinc alloys). Bronze grades: Ebony, Elias (bronze solids and turnings).
Each grade carries a published chemistry envelope and a contamination tolerance. The contract should name the grade and reference the current ISRI Circular edition by year (e.g., 'per ISRI Circular 2024'). Doing so removes ambiguity about which specification governs.
3. Aluminum Grades in the ISRI Circular
The headline aluminum grades: Talc (densified UBC bales), Taldon (loose UBC), Taint/Tabor (mixed clean low-copper aluminum), Tense (clean mixed low-copper sheet and cast), Tata (clean 6063 mixed extrusion), Tutu (clean painted/anodised 6063), Troma (clean automotive aluminum wheels), Tassel (clean mixed old sheet), Tally (clean mixed old castings), Twang (aluminum chips, borings, turnings), Tale (commercial pure aluminum scrap), and Zorba (non-ferrous shred from auto recycling).
Each grade specifies a chemistry envelope. UBC, for example, allows up to 1% non-aluminum metallic contamination, below 2% moisture and below 4% organics. 6063 grades carry strict Cu and Fe limits aligned with the alloy designation. Contracts should name the grade and tolerated contamination percentages explicitly.
4. Ferrous Grades in the ISRI Circular
Ferrous specifications are organised by codes 200–272. The headline grades for international export: HMS 1 (Heavy Melting Steel No.1 — code 200/201, clean iron and steel scrap 1/4" or thicker, free of attachments), HMS 2 (HMS 200/201 plus painted/coated steel 1/8" or thicker), Shredded scrap (code 211, magnetically separated shredded auto and equipment scrap), Bushelling (code 207, clean light steel new production offcuts), Plate and Structural (code 232/233, demolition-grade plate and beam).
The HMS 1 / HMS 2 split is the most-traded specification in international ferrous export. The Circular defines what may and may not appear in each grade, and contracts should reference the codes (200, 201, 211) along with the name.
5. Stainless and Nickel Grades
Stainless specifications cover 304 (Cr 18% / Ni 8%) and 316 (Cr 16% / Ni 10% / Mo 2%) as the headline grades, plus 18/8 mixed, ferritic 400-series, and turnings. The ISRI codes do not match the AISI alloy designations directly; contracts typically name the AISI grade and reference ISRI codes for form (solid, turnings, swarf).
Nickel-bearing scrap is covered separately with codes for high-nickel alloys, nickel turnings and refinery alloy scrap. Buyers in the stainless and superalloy markets often combine ISRI specifications with their own chemistry envelopes to capture the tighter tolerances modern alloy production requires.
6. How to Write a Contract That References ISRI Correctly
Five elements appear in every well-written ISRI-referenced contract. One: name the grade by its ISRI common name and the Circular code where applicable (e.g., 'Millberry per ISRI Barley'). Two: reference the Circular edition by year. Three: state the chemistry envelope explicitly even though it duplicates the Circular (the duplication eliminates argument). Four: state the contamination tolerance and form. Five: include a price-adjustment clause that triggers if assay results show deviation beyond an agreed tolerance.
A contract that simply says 'Millberry, 50 MT, USD 9,000/MT CIF Mumbai' without naming the ISRI specification or the deviation clause leaves both parties exposed if the material turns out to be off-spec. The Circular reference and the deviation clause together convert the contract from informal to enforceable.
7. ISRI vs European Specifications (EN 13920)
Europe also publishes its own scrap specifications via the EN 13920 series. EN 13920 is more prescriptive on aluminum alloy chemistry envelopes and is referenced by some European secondary smelters. For international trade between Europe and Asia, however, ISRI dominates because Asian buyers learned the system first and prefer the named-grade convention.
A contract can reference both. 'Material per ISRI Barley specification, chemistry conforming to EN 13920-2 for high-grade copper wire' is common in copper trade with German and Italian refineries. Naming both gives buyer and seller a fallback if one specification is contested.