Methods for recovering metals from automobile scrap and electronic waste

A method for recycling waste, comprising:

• A) separating waste into a plurality homogeneous piles of metal pieces and determining the weight of each homogeneous pile;
• B) performing elemental analysis to estimate fractions of metal elements in each homogeneous pile;
• C) based on said fractions of metal elements in each homogeneous pile and the weight of each pile, calculating a plurality of possible weight combinations of metal pieces from said homogeneous piles and calculating a corresponding fraction of metal elements for each possible weight combination of metal pieces from said homogeneous piles;
• D) comparing the fraction of metal elements for each possible weight combination against a database of fractions of metal elements of known alloy grades to select one or more closest types of alloy grades and to select the alloy grades as target alloy grades, said target alloy grades corresponding to one or more selected weight combinations of metal pieces from said homogeneous piles;
• and
• E) producing alloy products based on said target alloy grades by combining metal pieces from said homogeneous piles according to said selected weight combinations of metal pieces from said homogeneous piles.