The demand for copper continues to rise as more is needed for renewable energy technology. As metal manufacturers struggle to keep up with growing demand, there has been an increasing focus on recycling copper, given the expense and challenges of mining. Some metal manufacturers are taking recycling efforts one step further, digging through landfills in search of items that still contain traces of copper.
Looming Copper Shortage
Wind, solar, hydro, geothermal and biomass are among the clean energy sources playing a more significant role in the green energy market today. Copper usage is on average five times more in these technologies compared with copper usage in fossil fuels and nuclear plants.
Copper is highly conductive and relatively affordable, making it the perfect metal for electrical use. Called the “metal of electrification,” it has been used in wiring for 200 years and is now used in batteries, cables, motors, electric vehicle charging infrastructure and many other electronic components. The push for more clean energy has driven up copper demand, and it is forecasted that copper supply will have a hard time keeping up with this new demand, resulting in supply shortages.
According to a recent National Public Radio (NPR) story, the world’s largest copper mines in countries like Peru, Chile and the Congo are struggling to keep up with demand as they deal with environmental concerns. New mines take at least ten years to bring online due to permitting and environmental complexities.
The Australian mining company BHP says existing mines will produce about 15 percent less copper in 2035 than in 2024, according to the NPR report. Geology experts quoted say the average ore grade has diminished, meaning miners must pay more to mine and process copper.
Scrap as Copper Supply
Recycling scrap metal has long been a part of the equation to keep up with copper demand. Glencore, one of the world’s largest mining companies, recycles scrap metal at its copper smelter in Canada. The scrap is blended with copper from mines to manufacture copper slabs. To keep up with demand, metal manufacturers today are searching for new sources of scrap metal. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, Glencore and other copper producers are expanding their search for scrap and investing more to increase their recycling capacity. The article explains almost half of the copper demand will be met with recycled copper by 2050, up from about one-third today. Subsequently, copper producers are building up North American recycling capacity.
As part of this approach, Glencore is digging in landfills for copper left over in scrapped cars. The company is excavating the auto “fluff” sent to landfills after an automobile is shredded. The company is finding copper in that fluff that was not worth trying to save in an earlier era of recycling. According to the Journal article, Glencore found that the amount of copper in landfilled auto fluff can be more than twice that found in some mines.
Scrap Metal Recyclers Help Fuel Energy Transition
While mining will remain important to meet the metal needs of a transition to renewable energy, recycling scrap will be critical to help meet that demand and has many benefits over mining. Mining for new ore consumes a finite resource, whereas reusing scrap metal instead decreases the demand for virgin material. Mining damages the landscape, while recycling scrap metal keeps mountains of discarded metal out of landfills. Shaping and manufacturing metal sheets from ore requires significantly more energy compared to recycling scrap metal.
As demand for copper increases, recycled copper is expected to play a larger role in providing the valuable material needed to meet the needs of renewable energy projects. Some in the mining industry are already referring to the collection of scrap as: “urban mining,” and that is critical. As one Glencore representative said in the Journal article, “In the next 25 years we will consume more copper than humanity has consumed until now…That’s the scale of the challenge.”
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