If you’ve been following the copper market, you’ve probably seen the wild ride copper prices have been on.
Prices have generally risen since the start of the year, but July was… interesting. Minutes after President Donald Trump announced a 50% tariff on United States copper imports, COMEX prices exploded. For weeks, prices hovered above $5.50 per pound, nearly $2 higher than when 2025 began, before crashing back down into the $4.40 per pound range following President Trump’s proclamation targeting copper imports.
While the copper announcement was initially surprising, it was just a different version of the same song. The reddish metal joins similar 50% tariffs already enacted for imported aluminum and steel, leading to higher costs for many products.
According to the International Copper Association (ICA), electrical and communications uses about 70% of the global copper produced. Manufacturers could find themselves paying more for copper rod and other source materials. Meanwhile, distributors could face sticker shock when buying finished goods.
The United States imports a lot of copper – about 810,000 tons of cathode annually. Many industries, including wire and cable manufacturing, then use that material for production.
Refined copper imports come mainly from Chile, the world’s largest producer, or Canada, while Peru and Mexico help round out the balance. According to USGS data, refined copper was 88% of imported unmanufactured material.
The U.S. also produces copper, mining about 1.15 million tons in 2024. While it sounds like an incredible amount, the total was down slightly from 2023’s total. Lower ore grades were largely to blame, though Nevada’s Robinson Mine exceeded projections.
However, as global copper demand and prices soar, supplies must improve.
Although mining is a great way to source copper ore, new mines take years to research and develop. At the same time, copper grades are falling, meaning companies need more energy and effort to get the same result.
Unlike newly mined copper ore, recycled metal needs less processing and refinement. Recycled products are also high-grade and endlessly reusable with no performance loss.
For a country heavily invested in new technology, constant innovation, and renewable energy, recycling could be the answer. But are current processes improving fast enough to meet our consumption habits?
The story is simple: new copper is difficult to find, extract, and process.
The USGS estimates there are 2.1 billion tons of global copper reserves and 3.5 billion tons still undiscovered. Although it all sounds great, there’s an underlying problem.
Copper production relies on easy-to-access and high-quality ore. Without it, mining becomes much more expensive and time-consuming. Unfortunately, of the 2.1 billion tons of copper we know exists, the ore is harder to access, expensive to mine, and of lower grade. Similar conditions exist globally, as copper ore grades have declined consistently over the last century.
To get what we want out of those reserves requires more effort for less payout.
Like most raw material sourcing, copper mining damages the environment.
According to one recent study, the carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) of virgin copper far outweighs its recovered counterpart:
Although the study’s authors mention several variables not included that could alter CO2e outputs, it does show the general gulf between mining and recycling at a similar grade level.
All told, the primary copper production supply chain is inherently energy-intensive, causing more pollution than processing copper scrap. But beyond producing harmful greenhouse gases, mines impact local habitats. From water and soil damage to open pits, dust, and waste rock piles, mining can drastically change landscapes.
Despite the problems associated with virgin copper mining and processing, it still comprises the majority of our available material.
Recycling, in some cases, still has kinks to work out. Methods vary based on the product and its complexity. For example, bare copper wire or tubing is easier to collect and process than copper from smartphones or washing machines. Additionally, collecting and processing copper from post-consumer products may be expensive or difficult.
Beyond retrieving copper from the products themselves, smelting and refining capacity is an area of opportunity. Recent U.S. expansion announcements offer a bright future for metal recycling, but developing new facilities still takes several years.
However, if the country develops a well-run copper recycling program, there is plenty to get excited about. According to the ICA, potentially recyclable copper in use today could equal about 33 years of mine production.
Capitalizing on scrap does more than bolster the precarious copper supply chain. It could play a crucial role in addressing rising global demand while addressing national security concerns.
Currently, recycled copper is about 35% of the U.S. supply. But the country is straining supplies with data centers, electric vehicles, and the burgeoning green revolution. They all require the metal, along with other materials, including rare earths, to operate efficiently. By addressing potential recycling shortfalls, we can meet rising demand with game-changing processes.
In essence, we’re creating a circular economy by mining spent products for what we need.
Becoming a better recycler comes down to two key points: collection and refining.
Under those two massive umbrellas are several actions that could help solve a global problem.
Copper is infinitely recyclable, but retrieving materials from spent post-consumer products isn’t always easy.
Without specific processes in place, companies may discard products or scrap them inefficiently because of differences in the metals themselves. For example, steel is ferrous, making it easier to process than copper, brass, and aluminum. Metals also melt at different temperatures and react to extraction methods in distinct ways.
Because copper is non-ferrous, it won’t stick to magnets like steel or iron will. This means companies must use other methods to extract copper from products. Typically, this requires investing in machines to separate the copper from items, which can be expensive.
We can recycle more by finding better ways to harvest and process copper scrap. For the industry, this means understanding and utilizing copper from multiple scrap sources.
Depending on the type of scrap, it’s possible to create programs and incentives to increase recycling rates. For example, it’s easy to collect and reprocess copper materials from construction sites. Recycling companies can encourage construction crews to recycle copper materials by introducing, expanding, and promoting co-mingling programs. Co-mingling programs don’t require construction crews to sort metal, but recycling centers may take a cut of the earnings for sorting.
Other options include increasing earnings tied to recycling metals. If old scrap is more valuable, people and companies may be inclined to recycle. This could be especially true for consumer items like smartphones, TVs, and laptops. These products not only contain copper but also valuable rare earths critical to innovation and development.
Circular economies encourage everyone to reuse and recycle to improve environmental sustainability and reduce waste and pollution.
Processing recycled copper produces less pollution than primary production. By investing time and money into “urban mining” initiatives, we can put existing copper sources back into circulation.
But where does the copper come from for urban mining? That’s the easy part–it’s in consumer goods, construction and demolition scrap, and the cars we drive. Without a robust recycling program, these items could end up in a landfill or overseas for processing.
Global e-waste production is rising annually, but urban mining poses a unique solution. We prevent materials from ending up in landfills where they serve no use, and can repurpose most metals and rare earths for other things.
Copper prices are reaching new highs. At the same time, mining can’t keep up with rapidly rising demand.
Investing in innovative and impactful recycling solutions could relieve pressure on producers and protect the environment. Not to mention, the world is slowly inching toward more sustainability. Roughly one-third of the copper used annually over the past decade came from recycled materials.
Something has to change, especially as copper becomes more critical to our development. Mining is our lifeline right now, but it’s environmentally taxing, expensive, slow, and sometimes inefficient. Recycling, on the other hand, offers higher-grade metal that needs far less processing to reuse. Additionally, recycling centers can extract the metal alongside other high-priority metals and rare earths.
The U.S. and the world have barely scratched the surface of recycling. Technology is always evolving, producing more efficient processing and innovative solutions to complex problems.
If we’re ever going to see the cleaner future we envision, now is the time to take steps. Mining will always be part of our development landscape, but recycling is our ticket to long-term sustainability.