Dad and me often used to go to the local rubbish dump - something like 50 - 55 years ago (jeez how time flies).

At that time it was just a rubbish dump, no one ever there, we used to scavenge anything brass, copper, aluminium - all the non ferrous stuff.

Used to save it up for a couple of months and take it to the local scrapyard, used to easily make around £100 or more on every visit.

I still have the habit of hanging onto bits of non ferrous scrap, car / bike batteries and taking them to the local scrapyard, these days I dont get the quantity, but might clear £50 - £70 on my annual visit.