For thousands of years, copper has been one of the most commonly used metals on earth. As the properties of copper do not degrade despite being recycled several times, products made from copper today could have been around for hundreds to thousands of years ago. Take for example the case with copper scrap, it is a highly prized scrap metal that is valued by recycling businesses. One reason is that it is the best conductor of electricity apart from silver. Thanks to copper’s electrical and thermal conductivity, along with its other great qualities such as high malleability and ductility.
Interestingly, copper has been recycled for a very long time now and it dated back to thousands of BC era. After the technology of copper processing has been improved, it continued to grow as the process of recycling also enhanced. The recycling of copper scrap, for instance, has seen plenty of development, hastening the production of new products made from recycled copper. As recycling processes continued to improve, copper and its alloys were recycled for various purposes. Copper scrap and other metal scrap recycling projects have grown rapidly, making recycling businesses and related industries benefit from them.
When it comes to the economic significance of recycling copper scrap, nearly half of the copper production in the U.S. comes from recycled materials. More than 2 million metric tons of copper used for domestic applications are produced locally through recycling facilities. Among nonferrous metals, copper comes second to aluminum as recycled metal. In terms of composition, about over a half of recycled copper scrap includes new scrap recovery. Other recycled items are chips, machine turnings, cables, damaged radiators, plumbing tubes, among many others. All these items come together in a recycling facility where they will be processed to make a new metal product.
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