Scrap
Scrap is very valuable. Some scrap is stolen for its worth, like copper wires and pans. This is a crime in some countries, and many investigations are focused on issues with legitimate metal trading. Totaled cars are often also sold for the metal inside. They are crushed, melted into smaller ingots and cylinders, then shipped to a manufacturer of metal goods that paid for that scrap metal. For developed metals to become scrap metal, it needs to be unused and useless in the form it's in. Only then do people shred and melt metal to be used for other things.