Recycling of Copper- Why is it Beneficial

Burying garbage in the ground holes is one widely used method used for getting rid of the rubbish. Since the landfill sites are quickly getting filled, the only way of disposing garbage is through incineration plants.

Meanwhile the three things that are encouraged are:
• Lower the wastage.
• Reuse materials as much as possible.
• Recycle the objects which are no longer used.

In case of copper, recycling and reusing is what we can do; copper wire has high durability and can be reused as well as recycled to create other copper products also.

People should also try to reduce the amount of copper products that are being utilized. Buying new products just because they are in fashion will increase wastage. Hence it is suggested that you buy new gadgets, only when it is compulsory.

Reusing is another good way of avoiding wastage of copper. Products such as mobile phones, cookers, washing machines, in good working order can be resold for usage.

Apart from lowering the wastage and reusing, the recycling of copper products such as- copper wire, power cable, silver copper wire and tin copper wire is extremely essential as the copper can be reprocessed completely to make a new item. The process involves copper alloy production, manufacturing, dismantling as well as sorting out. Thereafter it is melting, casting as well as manufacturing of the new copper products.

Figures state that in Europe about 41% of the copper requirement is met by recycling. The benefits of copper recycling are more than one. There are environmental benefits as well as energy savings associated with the same. Copper mining, refining involves the liberation of waste gases like Sulphur dioxide into the environment which impacts the environment adversely. These effects can be minimized by with the help of recycling, as recycling curtails the need of copper being manufactured.

The process also saves energy; the energy needed to extract copper from the copper ore is approximately 100GJ/ tonne. Recycling of copper requires much less energy- that is about 10GJ/ tonne. This saving of energy leads to the conservation of the oil, coal or gas and this in turn also works to lower the amount of CO2 that is being released into the environment.

Copper and copper products such as power cable, silver copper wire and tin copper wire if not recycled might be dumped in ground holes or landfill. Since there landfills are getting scarcer, they are growing to be a very expensive method of disposal, hence recycling helps in a big way to help save such costs.
Since recycled copper is valued up to 90% of the original copper it is always better in all conditions to get the copper recycled.