Environment

What does recycling of copper means for the environment ?


Steel and copper from ferrous scrap are materials that, when clean, can be infinitely recycled.
The critical word here, however, is 'clean'. With ever larger quantities of electrical equipment finding their way into our waste, steel and copper are becoming so interwoven that current techniques can no longer entirely separate them. This makes scrap recycling increasingly difficult. 

The ReSteel Solution ensures that scrap, as well as its contaminating metals such as copper, are completely separated, and thus recyclable. It is a concrete solution that ensures:

More and cleaner scrap for the steel industry. The CSM (Clean Scrap Machine) makes scrap purer. This ensures that more scrap can be used as raw material for steel making – reducing our dependency on iron ore. Using just one tonne of ReSteel-cleaned scrap for steel-making instead of iron-ore consumes 75% less energy and produces three tonnes less of CO2 per tonne of steel produced.

More copper to recycle. Worldwide around 60 million tonnes of scrap that is rich in copper is produced each year (2008), containing around 400,000 tonnes of copper. Only half of this copper can be extracted using existing methods. The CSM (Clean Scrap Machine) would allow an additional 150,000 tonnes of this copper to be removed, putting more recycled copper into circulation and reducing our need for copper ore in copper production. Recycled copper produces emissions many times lower than that produced by copper ore – a saving of 1kg of SOx per 1kg of recycled copper.

Primary production shows a CO2 emission between 4,9 and 6,0 tons of CO2 per ton  of copper. This range depends on the methods of extraction of copper. With recycling the CO2 emission is approx. 0,7 ton per ton of copper.                     

Recycling of copper gives an emissions reduction between 4,2 and 5,3 ton CO2 per ton of copper !!



ReSteel’s technology ensures that ferrous scrap continues to be a vital source of raw materials. Which means conserving the world's precious natural resources, reducing carbon emissions, and contributing to a society built upon the sustainable use of our resources.