Perhaps waste copper's time infiltrating phoney pearl scam (5,5)
I believe the answer is:
scrap metal
'perhaps waste copper's time infiltrating phoney pearl scam' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'time infiltrating phoney pearl scam' is the wordplay.
'time' becomes 't' (abbreviation).
'infiltrating' is an insertion indicator.
'phoney' indicates anagramming the letters.
'pearl'+'scam'='pearlscam'
'pearlscam' with letters rearranged gives 'scrapmeal'.
't' inserted inside 'scrapmeal' is 'SCRAP-METAL'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for scrap metal that I've seen before include "it's unwanted by industry?" , ""Old iron"" , "reclaimed material" , "it's going to be melted down" , "Old estate could be sold as this" .)