Kabadi Items List: What You Can Sell to a Kabadiwala and How It’s Priced

Short answer: a kabadi items list covers almost everything metal, paper, plastic or electronic in your home: utensils, newspapers, cartons, old appliances, phones, laptops, batteries, wires and iron furniture. Metals and paper are priced by weight, appliances and gadgets are priced per piece, and the day’s metal market sets the base rate. What you actually get depends on three things you control: how well you sort, the condition of each item, and whether it’s weighed honestly.

What a kabadiwala buys, and why it matters before Diwali

Every Diwali safai turns up the same things: a loft full of newspapers, a pressure cooker with a broken handle, the mixer that stopped working in summer, last year’s phone, and a tangle of wires nobody can identify. Almost all of it can be sold. The problem is that most people don’t know what counts as scrap, so useful material goes into the dustbin while the kabadiwala gets offered a mixed bag at one low rate.

That matters beyond your wallet. India generated about 1.75 million tonnes of e-waste in 2023-24, and well over half of it was not processed by the formal system.

Sources: Down To Earth, “India’s e-waste surges by 73% in 5 years” (Rajya Sabha data, December 2024); Citizen Matters, “Much of the segregated dry waste in Mumbai ends up in landfills”.

Citizen Matters found that Mumbai’s 46 dry waste segregation centres together handle only about 188 tonnes a day. Most of the rest never gets sorted. Selling your recyclables directly, sorted and weighed, is the simplest way to keep them out of that gap.

“The informal sector’s extensive last-mile coverage should be harnessed”Siddharth Ghanshyam Singh, Centre for Science and Environment, quoted by Down To Earth

The complete kabadi items list

Buyers group scrap by material, because material decides the price. Here is the full list, grouped the same way. Our Diwali scrap pickup page has all 69 items in a searchable table, in English and Hindi names.

1. Metals and utensils (by weight)

• Brass (pital): lotas, thalis, diyas, bells, idols, old taps and bathroom fittings
• Copper (tamba): handas, pots, copper-bottom vessels, wire and cable
• Kansa (bell metal): thalis and bowls
• Stainless steel and aluminium: vessels, old pressure cookers, kadhais, dabbas
• Iron (loha): racks, almirahs, bed frames, trunks, grills, gates

Our old utensils pickup weighs each metal separately, which is the single biggest factor in what you get paid.

2. Raddi and paper (by weight)

Newspapers, old books and notebooks, magazines, calendars, office files and cartons. Newspaper is usually kept apart from mixed paper and cardboard. See raddi and paper pickup for how each type is weighed.

3. Plastic (by weight)

PET bottles, buckets and tubs, hard containers and broken plastic chairs. Clean, hard plastic sells; thin film and food-soiled packaging usually doesn’t.

4. Appliances (per piece)

Fridges, washing machines, window and split ACs, coolers, geysers, TVs (CRT, LCD or LED), fans, mixers, microwaves, induction cooktops, kettles and RO purifiers. Working or not, these are quoted per item from a photo. Read more on selling old appliances.

5. Phones, laptops and IT (per piece)

Mobile phones, laptops, tablets, desktops and monitors, printers, routers, set-top boxes, speakers, hard disks and pen drives. Chargers, keyboards and mice are usually weighed together. Because these hold personal data, they need a buyer who wipes or destroys the storage. That’s what our phones and laptops pickup does, recorded on your certificate.

6. Batteries, power and wires

Inverter, car and bike batteries are priced by weight. UPS units, inverters and stabilizers are priced per piece. Copper wire, motors and water pumps go by weight at the day’s rate. Extension boards, switches, tube lights and LED panels are weighed as mixed electricals.

7. Puja, decor and office

Brass diyas, samai, puja thalis and bells are sold as brass. Old serial lights are e-waste. Offices and shops add bulk computers, servers, metal furniture, display racks and old files. Our office clear-out page covers those.

How each kind of scrap is priced

There’s no single kabadi rate list that holds for a whole city. Prices move with the metal and paper markets, and each buyer adds their own margin. Here is how pricing works by category, so you know what to ask.

Metal rates today

Because metal is the most valuable part of most scrap, it helps to know the day’s rate before anyone arrives. On 22 October 2026 our live scrap rates page showed copper at ₹1,235.05/kg, brass at ₹850.81/kg and aluminium at ₹199.03/kg (last updated 21 October 2026). These are rates for clean, sorted metal and change daily, so check the page on the day you sell. To value your own lot, use the brass rate calculator or the copper rate calculator.

This short Hindi video explains where kabadiwalas and scrap dealers check rates every morning, and why the price you’re offered isn’t the market price:

Video: All Pricess, “Kabadi वाला Scrap Rate कहाँ से देखता है? Live Scrap Rate की Ground Reality” (Hindi).

Why two buyers quote different prices for the same scrap

If your building’s kabadiwala and a pickup service quote differently for the same pile, it’s usually one of these:

• Mixed lots. When brass, steel and iron are weighed together, the whole lot gets the lowest rate. Sorting is worth more than bargaining.
• The scale. A hand-held spring scale and a calibrated digital scale can read differently for the same bundle. Ask to see the reading.
• Per-piece guesses. Appliances quoted at the door, without a photo first, invite haggling. A photo quote sets expectations before the pickup.
• Volume and access. A full loft clearance is worth a buyer’s trip; one bag of raddi on the fifth floor without a lift may not be.
• Where it ends up. E-waste and batteries sent to authorised recyclers cost more to handle properly than when they’re stripped for parts in a back lane.

The economics behind your local kabadiwala’s margins are explained well here:

Video: Dhandha Paisa Engine, “कबाड़ी वाला महीने का कितना कमाता है? The Economics of Scrap Business” (Hindi).

What a kabadiwala usually won’t take

Not everything in the cleaning pile is scrap. These need a different route:

• Wet waste and puja flowers: compost them or hand them to the BMC wet-waste collection.
• Broken glass, mirrors and ceramics: wrap them and put them out as dry waste.
• Expired medicines: pharmacy take-back where available, never the drain.
• Thin plastic film, chips packets, thermocol: low or no resale value; send them with dry waste.
• Clothes, toys and working items: donate them while they’re still useful.

Phones, chargers, bulbs and batteries are a special case: a kabadiwala may take them, but under India’s E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2022 electronics are meant to reach registered recyclers and refurbishers. If you’re not sure what to keep, sell or throw, our Diwali cleaning guide has a room-by-room checklist.

Five ways to get a fair price for your kabadi items

1. Sort by material. Brass, copper, steel, aluminium and iron in separate bags. A fridge magnet helps: brass and copper don’t stick, iron does.
2. Keep paper dry and bundled. Damp raddi is worth less, and many buyers won’t take it.
3. Photograph appliances and gadgets. Include the model sticker and say whether it works.
4. Check the day’s metal rate. Our scrap rates page is updated daily.
5. Insist on a visible weighing. Watch the scale reading for each material, and get a record of what was weighed and paid.

How a National Recycling pickup works

Instead of calling different buyers for raddi, metal and electronics, one pickup takes the whole kabadi items list.

1. Send 2–3 photos on WhatsApp with your area in Mumbai or Thane. We reply with an estimate.
2. Pick a slot. Book by 4 November for a pickup before Dhanteras (Friday, 6 November). Lakshmi Puja is on Sunday, 8 November 2026.
3. Weighed in front of you. Every material is weighed separately on a digital scale.
4. Paid before we leave. Cash or UPI on the spot, with a certificate for every pickup. Phones and laptops have their data wiped or destroyed.

“Doorstep pick up of the e-waste and its disposal was easy and proper.”Komal, Google review of National Recycling

Got a box of old pital? Read how old brass utensils are priced and where to sell them in Mumbai.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Down To Earth: India’s e-waste surges by 73% in 5 years
• Citizen Matters: Much of the segregated dry waste in Mumbai ends up in landfills
• AZB & Partners: E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2022 notified
• All Pricess: Live Scrap Rate ki Ground Reality (video)
• Dhandha Paisa Engine: The Economics of Scrap Business (video)