Summary
Copper is vital to our everyday lives – from the tech we use, medical equipment, transport and our energy system. The demand for copper continues to grow and in May 2024 copper reached its peak price of $11,000 per tonne for the first time. This briefing paper provides a summary of research that identifies the growing gap between the amount of copper produced and the rising demand for copper in the UK and internationally. The research identifies the significant role that recycling of copper could play in helping to fill this gap, particularly by recycling the copper held onto or thrown away by UK households. This research has been developed through a collaboration between Material Focus, Bloomberg Intelligence and the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Key findings
• 1.3 billion unused or binned electricals could hold the answer to the nation’s fast approaching gap in the supply of copper to meet growing demand
• There are 823m unused or broken tech items hiding in UK homes
• These cables and other electricals, plus those that have already been thrown away, contain a staggering £266m worth of copper, enough to provide 30% of the copper needed in our green future
• UK householders are throwing away or holding onto on average 23 cables
• Research by the Critical Minerals Association has identified that cables contain at least 20% of copper – which means that across all UK households, we could extract an incredible 3,251 tonnes of copper in cables.
