Launched by the Copper Sustainability Partnership on the 29th October 2024 the Copper Awareness Day is an opportunity to raise the profile of a material that is widely used throughout the built environment. In fact throughout everyday life and copper is one of the most highly versatile metals. EuRIC (2024) state that there is over 100 kg of copper in every household and a computer for example contains 1.5 kg alone. The properties if copper make it ideal for conducting electricity , suitable for water distribution and many more applications. These include transport, construction, industrial, infrastructure and also extensively in plumbing and heating.
https://www.cuspuk.com/news/cusp-launches-awareness-day/
Copper can be indefinitely recycled
Used by the trade the world over and for hundreds of years copper pipe and fittings have played a pivotal role in sanitation and domestic heating for homes. It is also a material that can be indefinitely recycled meaning that it is circular by nature. The circularity of products means that once at the end of life they can be collected and used as a feedstock to create new products. In the case of copper it saves 85% of the energy using recycled material. Copper has an extremely healthy copper scrap commodity market that drives the collection of copper globally making it an attractive metal to use in the construction industry.
Within the UK there is circa 23 million homes and copper plumbing heating, hot and cold water systems have been used for nearly 100 years. This is due to the reliability, long-life and great conductivity of copper as a metal. It is also anti-microbial so it stays clean and debris free if the system is clean and oxygen free. Used by heating engineers, plumbers, HVAC and mechanical engineers across the UK and Ireland, copper is malleable and can be soldered together using fittings. Today more than ever with the increased use of press systems such as the m-profile PRESS-TITE range from Cubralco means that there is no contamination or harmful debris being added when fittings are added to pipework.
The Circularity of Copper
Copper is an extraordinary material and one of its most interesting characteristics is that it can be recycled indefinitely. This characteristic means that it is part of the Circular Economy, products that can be used again and again as long as they are recovered. Copper scrap in the UK and globally is a thriving business that means copper products at the end of their life’s are collected and reused into feedstock for new copper products. This is important to develop a more sustainable future as with the current consumption of raw materials and the lack of reuse and recycling there is too much waste entering into the environment. Plastic which has very low recycling rates globally at under c.20% means that the circularity of plastic is extremely low. With the increasing use of plastic in the built environment and the lack of understanding the harm that micro plastics causes in humans, animals, plants and water such as the oceans is not a sustainable future. CuSP the Copper Sustainability Partnership is championing the awareness of copper and how it can be used to make a more sustainable future. Highlighting the fantastic properties of copper and how it can be used in domestic homes, industrial and commercial applications to transport water, heating and gas safely and without any harmful material ending up in the environment and ultimately humans.