Lead is a soft and very malleable metal, which is known for a wide variety of applications, making it an attractive product in the scrap market. It is flexible, inelastic, melts easily and can form alloys with many metals, industrially almost always used in this way. It is one of the best-known metals since antiquity, being widely used from Roman times to the present day.

Among other properties, lead has excellent corrosion resistance, making it an ideal material for industries such as construction or quemicals.