Elizabeth River Recycling in
Chesapeake (VA)

Used to be an honest business but ripped me off today. Haven't been there for a few years so different people doing the weighing of aluminum cans. I had 13 bags of aluminum cans weighing about 12 lbs ea. Price of aluminum cans today 11/13/25 is .64 cents per lb. I got $74 and change. You do the math but should had been exactly $100. Bags were exact same size and each were packed with crushed cans. A standard 13 gallon kitchen trash bag.

Super cool place ! Amazing to see how all the materials get processed .

Super helpful staff and unexpectedly clean yard! Hands down the best place I've gone to turn aluminum cans into spare cash.

Great place to get rid of your junk/metal. Good people and easy to maneuver around the lot. They pay good also.

I sent my boyfriend here because of the great reviews on Google, but we did not have a positive experience and cannot currently recommend this place based on our experience. He brought a 5 gallon bucket of bare bright (from a home rewire) weighing 39 lbs. and a grocery bag of copper #2 weighing 8 lbs. After weighing his bucket, they dumped it, and then tared the scale WITH THE 8 lb. BAG OF #2 SITTING ON IT. The bucket itself weighed 2 lbs. but you can see from the receipt that the tare shows 10 lbs. (the bucket + the bag of #2). When he tried to explain what was happening to the guys at the scale, they didn’t speak English and just moved him along to the next building to collect payment. When he tried to explain what happened to the lady paying him out, she took the side of her coworkers without really listening. Although I do believe this was a genuine mistake and not a malicious attempt to defraud customers, the end-result is the same – 20% of the scrap we brought in was basically stolen from us. Proceed with caution.

Everyone was so nice & helpful! Shoutout to Brandon for taking care of me and Tink for showing me the ropes! Will be back

Best place to scrap! They're fair with prices and will help you get the most money for your time!

I’ve been coming to Elizabeth River Recycling for over twenty+ years. I feel they are honest and trustworthy. I know sometimes we as customers have to wait in a cue until it is safe. I would rather have to wait then to get hurt or my car get damaged. Lately I’ve noticed how much faster and smoother the yard has been with “D” and Jody at the helm.

This place is the cleanest in all of Hampton roads. The staff is always friendly and prices always fair. They always take good care of me and get me in and out in a reasonable time

I have been a customer since the day they opened recently a lot of good employees have left and now there is a lot of clueless employees the worst I have ever seen today was my last day I will not ever go back it’s that bad I will carry my business elsewhere

Easy access to the scale but watch out for the pot holes . You'll definitely need an alignment if ya hit those too hard Straightforward process for recycling Steel. In & out without a problem. Staff is always friendly and on the ball! Pay attention when you're walking around though cuz you may see some weird stuff made out of metal.

Great place to take your recyclables. People who work there are very nice and helpful.

Always helpful and friendly staff and efficient services, plus they're helping individuals like myself try to save the world, i repurpose things would consider " trash " or "garbage" or "worthless",.. whatever they may believe, sadly i too have been referred to as those very same labels.. and guess what people, by the grace of the good god almighty itself. I too have been repurposed. So to the oustandingly humble, kind and hard working staff at good ole' E R R , liz rivy recyces, keep up the hard work guys!! And gals, and others, you have been validated and authorized.

Elizabeth River Recycling is one of the better paying scrap yard conveniently located too. The staff and personal are friendly and very professional. I only wish the could place a concert pad down like sims recycling has now instead of the steel plates they have down now when it rains even with the plants it's still a mud pit but over all 2 up's.

First timer. These people are super picky about processing, even bulk steel. If you have a BBQ grill take every ounce of plastic off of it! (or go to ANY other scrap yard). Also, yard was highly DISorganized, lines of vehicles with forklifts weaving in & out. Took us 48 mins to drop off a light load. I will not be back

Great customer service. Honest staff and you never have to worry about your weights!

The only place I go would not go nowhere else they are very helpful unloading your vehicle no fuss no muss

Great place to sell your scrap and good and friendly employees to assist you and help you with you recycling needs. How ever as long as they have been open to the public you would think they would have improved on the area where one pulls up to unload there scrap with a concrete area instead of dirt and mud area such as sims recycling are for their customers.

First timer, everyone was helpful. Just had to wait a bit to get to the right place. Very good service.

This is the greatest place to go to recycle. The staff are very polite, and very welcoming , every one that walked by said hello to me . It's very nice that there is still is good customer service left in the world.

First time here and had a great experience, the staff was extremely helpful. Would recommend if you have metal to scrap.

Very helpfully Mr D and Melvin everybody there is courteous and on their game I have learned more about metals and how to get the most by cleaning the scrap ECT... D and Melvin take the time to educate me when they don't have to!!! Thanks Kenneth Nuce see you all on mondy

I agree with Diana! Every time I go all their employees are super helpful. Melvin is always especially friendly when he unloads for me. Really love Kelly at the gate she's always on it. Remembers my name & what I normally bring in every time!

Very nice and helpful employees. Melvin took a moment to tell me what happens with all the metal that is collected. And it’s his birthday today!

Part of my principle in life is to support green projects! So I salute to the people, company who make an effort to recycle. thank you guys two thumbs up!

It's a recycling center so it's dirty, it's loud, it's busy, it's confusing, they close early (3:45PM), they aren't open weekends, the location can be difficult to get into or out of (depending on traffic), etc... So why the five star rating? They pay good money for your scrap metal and it's relatively quick and easy. I've been here several times over the past five or six years. My wife saves all our aluminum cans (crushed and in large trash bags) and other metal scraps. On my visit last week I had three large trash bags of soda cans which brought $25 plus old gutters we tore off the house before having new gutters installed brought us another $18 and a couple of old steel sconces brought us another $1. Okay, you're not going to get rich on this but it makes a difference. The whole experience is pretty quick and painless as it usually takes me about an hour to load the truck, drive to recycling center, unload, get paid and return home. Not a bad payout for minimal effort. The yard is set back from S. Military Hwy. in Chesapeake just east of the Gilmerton Bridge. After you turn off S. Military into the business you will be mostly driving on dirt so don't head over there after a fresh wash job on your truck. Pull up on the scales and give the attendant your name then head into the yard. If you aren't familiar be sure to ask the attendant what to do. The attendant will ask you what type of scrap you have then direct you to the appropriate area where you will have to wait for another employee to assist you. It's all pretty quick and painless. You unload your scrap as directed, fear not as they will help you if you need or desire assistance. After you've unloaded just head to the inside scale area as directed where they will weigh your scrap then direct you into the office where you will show the attendant your ID then receive your cash. From there just get back into your vehicle and exit the yard. It's just that easy. All the employees I've dealt with on my visits have been pleasant and very helpful so you don't have to worry about not knowing what to do when you get there. I think it's great to have this facility available where we can get rid of some scrap and get a few dollars. Thank you Elizabeth River Recycling for making it so easy.

Great place to go to scrap metal, prices and definitely fair. Fast on week days and friendly people.