Copper, sustainable material

Copper is a completely recyclable raw material and is therefore a RENEWABLE RESOURCE for our future.

The durability or rather the practical indestructibility of copper allows it to be completely recycled when its products are no longer of use, with no loss of performance.

When copper products are no longer of use, the metal contained within perfectly maintains its physical-chemical properties and can therefore be completely recycled to become a new resource, with great advantages in terms of saving the world's natural resources.

It is estimated that approximately 80% of all the copper that has ever been mined, after being remelted and reworked numerous times, is still in use today, with clear advantages in terms of non aggressive use of the potentially available mineral resources.

To stress the importance of the reuse of copper, keep in mind that:

• Copper is a 100% recyclable metal.

  The excellent organization that is currently in place for the recycling of copper products (with a capillary network of recycling centres), combined with the high value of the recycled material, contributes to the success of the recovery and reuse of copper, which is one of the most recycled metals.

  In Europe, the percentage of copper that is recovered from the various products when they are no longer of use and are reintroduced into the production process is equal to approximately 70% of the total amount that is potentially available.

• Recycled copper has the same physical-chemical and technological properties as the primary material

  its uses are not limited, its value does not decrease and it does not have to undergo any treatment before being reused.

• 50% of the entire European production of semi-finished copper products comes from recycled material:

  Copper scrap is a fundamental component in the production of semi-finished copper products: Excluding the wire rod, on average its weight in the production of the various semi-finished copper products is comparable to that of the raw material (cathodes), which is approximately 50%. In some sectors, such as brass rod, it is even higher and can reach 80-90% of the total of the raw material used.

• Scrap is an energy bank:

  Recycling copper means saving 85% of the energy needed to produce the primary metal (source: Bureau of International Recycling)

• Recycling helps the environment, in that it also reduces

  • emissions related to the mining and smelting of primary copper
  • the volume of solid waste and the costs and problems related to its disposal

• Scrap is the true European "copper mine"

  that can reduce our industry's dependence on the importation of raw material. Millions of tons of copper are found in the products that we use every day; when these products are no longer useful, the metals contained within are recycled and become new resources, available for our future.

   

• Recycled scrap

  coming not from the recovery of metal in "worn-out" goods, but from work residue/remnants of the industries that use the semi-finished products represents a strong synergic relationship between the production of semi-finished products and the industries that use them, making the entire system more competitive.