Recycling

Like aluminium, copper is recyclable without any loss of quality: from a raw state and from manufactured products. In mass, copper is the 3rd most recycled metal after steel and aluminium. Nearly 80% of all copper ever mined is still in use today. The global per capita stock of copper in use in society is 35–55 kg.

The process of recycling copper is nearly the same as extracting copper but with fewer steps. Scrap copper from whatever source (wire, cable, pipe) is melted in a furnace and then reduced and cast into billets and ingots.