E-waste could help close UK’s net zero copper gap

The study, conducted by Recycle your Electricals with Bloomberg Intelligence, found that UK households contain 38,449 tonnes of copper inside unwanted and discarded electricals. The UK currently uses around 250,0000 tonnes of copper per year, but this figure is expected to rise considerably to meet the demands of growing electrification. By 2033, the global copper gap is estimated to be 6.5 million tonnes, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.  

“Supplying the world’s copper requirements over the next 10 years is going to be challenging, with the market potentially facing severe shortages in five to ten years,” said Grant Sporre, senior analyst, Metals and Mining at Bloomberg Intelligence. 

“All the shallow, easy-to-extract copper deposits have been mined out. Securing social and environmental approval to build new mines is becoming harder, and it can take up to 15 years to commence mining. This, together with the growing demand for copper and the drive to decarbonise, is going to require a significant amount more copper.

“Better recycling practices and efficiencies will be needed to close this gap. Increasing the proportion of recycled copper to 50 per cent from current levels of 30 cent would be a significant challenge for global supply chains but could potentially meet the additional demand.”

While e-waste recycling is unlikely to be able to close the copper gap alone, it can play an important role alongside other circular practices. Recycle your Electricals is urging consumers to confront the ‘drawer of doom’ where many households stash unused cables and old electricals. It’s estimated this disused copper is worth up to £266m. Ahead of e-waste day on October 14^th, the organisation is launching the Great Cable Challenge where it hopes to encourage ‘urban mining’ and the recycling of 1 million unused cables.

“We need to start ‘urban mining’ and help protect the planet and nature from the harmful impacts of mining for raw materials and instead value and use what we have already,” said Scott Butler, executive director of Recycle Your Electricals.

“People may not realise that cables and electricals contain valuable materials, not just copper, and that if binned or stashed, we lose everything inside of them when we don’t recycle them into something new. That’s why we’re starting with the Great Cable Challenge. Doing the right thing by your old and unwanted electricals has never been easier; with over 26,000 recycling points around the UK. Just check our Recycling Locator for yours – anything with a plug, battery or cable can be reused and recycled and there’s somewhere near you to do it.”