Why is it important to recycle copper?

Over nearly 5,000 years, copper was thought to be the only metal on earth. Humans used copper for the first time more than 10,000 years ago, and today the world has access to a supply worth about 5.8 trillion pounds.

It's fascinating that nearly all of that copper is still in use today, given that copper has a higher recycling rate than most other engineering metals. The amount of recycled copper is so high that it's almost equal to the amount of copper mined annually. This fact alone should convince you that copper is still in high demand, so recycling old copper has many advantages. The benefits of copper recycling are huge, which is why sell my car brisbane is very common in Australia. The benefits of copper recycling are explored further in this article.

We can avoid building landfills.

Every year, more trash gets thrown away from homes and businesses, putting more pressure on America's landfills. There are fewer and fewer of these holes to fill, and the price to do so is increasing. You can have it fully recycled into yet another long-lasting product as an alternative to sending your used copper to a landfill.

The alternative copper refining process uses less energy

Copper recycling requires only 10–15% of the energy needed to mine and extract new copper from its ores. Copper recycling is preferable to mining for new copper because it helps preserve the earth's limited supply of fossil fuels. Only 12-13% of the world's copper reserves have been extracted, so protecting the rest for future generations is crucial.

Keeping copper ore intact

Copper ore conservation is critically important, as we've just argued. Even though we have a large reserve of copper ore yet to be mined, this resource is nonrenewable once it is exhausted. Because there is already enough copper in circulation to meet current demand, recycling copper is essential.

Costs less than producing copper from scratch

Even though the cost of mining copper has been reported to be decreasing, recycling copper is still much more cost-effective. Recycled copper retains 90% or more of its value when compared to the price of virgin copper.

Excellent for regional economies

Copper recycling is also vital to local economies because it employs every stage of the recycling process, from the initial collection of scrap copper to its final physical processing for reuse.