They can have the cables, just leave my catalytic converter alone.
I have been to a scrap yard in Idaho that had a vacuum machine that took apart catalytic convertors.
It cut them apart. Separated the components and vacuumed up the dust. It deposited the rare earth elements into bags inside 55 gallon drums.
I asked the value of a full barrel. He stated around $12,000.
I looked around the warehouse we were in. He said there was 24/7 human monitored CC cameras watching every inch of the building.
He also has a machine that strips the casings off of Romex wire. It then cuts them up into little pieces and blows them into bins. They get a couple maxi truck loads a month of this scrap copper. Each truck has 64000 lbs of copper on it. Do the math.
Their most recent addition is recycling tires. Apparently, there is demand for the shredded tires after the steel belts are removed. It is added to asphalt and there are companies that making bricks and rubber matting out of it.
My company buys from one called Rubberific. Lowes sells some of their products.