Copper

Recycling

Copper is one of the most used and recycled metals, appearing in everyday products including cook-ware, electric wire, pipes, tubes, coins, automobile radiators, home fixtures, jewelry, as a pigment in paint, and as a preservative in paper, wood, and other products. Copper is infinitely recyclable, and there is as much copper recovered from scrap and recycled material as from ore that is newly mined. Recycled copper has a high value, with approximately 95 percent of the value of newly mined ore. This is beneficial, because mineral deposits like copper form so slowly that they are considered non-renewable. Since global copper use is expected to continue to rise, the copper industry is dependent on the economic recycling of this heavy metal. In fact, copper's recycling rate is higher than any other engineering metal, according to the Copper Development Association.

Theft

The extensive utility of copper in electronics and machinery at times combines with its value on the global market to cause problems of theft and vandalism in the industrialized world. For example, as the value of copper rose between 2006 and 2008, communities across the United States experienced elevated rates of theft of copper pipes and downspouts from houses, abandoned buildings, and construction sites as well as copper wiring from traffic signals, industrial machinery, and agricultural machinery. While theft reports declined after a market collapse in autumn 2008, law enforcement officials in urban and rural communities alike have attempted to impose controls to keep dealers from purchasing stolen copper.

Production

The United States is second only to Chile as the largest producer of copper in the world. Copper towns began to appear in the United States around the same time in history as coal towns in the early 1900s as a result of mining advances that made possible the recovery of low-grade ore. The copper mining industry, like most mining industries, has a long history of worker inequality and community environmental injustice. There was little government oversight until the passage of the Clean Air Act in the 1970s. Even after the passage of this legislation, the mining industry received preferential treatment by most state governments because of the economic power they wielded. Since the 1970s, the combination of increased government regulation, industry improvements, and greater public awareness of environmental and health hazards has resulted in improved waste disposal and air quality processes.

Disposal

Disposal of copper waste varies with the form of the ore and the processes employed. There has been some debate about the most effective ways of disposing of the ore with the least amount of damage to humans, animals, and the physical environment. Chromated copper arsenate (CCA) has become a common wood preservative, which research has shown to leach over time when exposed to water. As increasing amounts of CCA-treated wood [Page 157]require disposal, this leaching process, which can be harmful to human health, soil, underground water sources, and other aspects of nature, is of specific concern for landfill operators and environmentalists. The Environmental Protection Agency deems copper slags and copper flotation waste as hazardous waste. About 24.6 million tons of copper flotation waste are created annually from world copper production.

...