Page 52 from: August 2013

52 August 2013

With over 500 million people still inhabiting rural areas of China,
almost 300 million people living without electricity in India and many
more millions improving their living standards across the rest of Asia
and in central Africa, a golden future lies ahead for copper recyclers.
In the short to medium term, however, the sector faces some serious
hurdles, as was reflected at Metal Bulletin’s second Copper Recycling
Conference, held recently in Düsseldorf.

Copper makes the world go round.
The red metal is used

in electrical wiring,

roofing and plumbing,

industrial machinery,

mobile phones, com-

puters, cars, planes and

trains. In short: copper

is everywhere. And

more importantly,

copper is highly recy-

clable: an estimated 80% of the copper ever

mined is still in use today.

Recycled copper forms an essential part of the

metal’s supply chain and accounts for over 30%

of its total consumption – a contribution that

is expected to extend rapidly in the years to

come as demand for copper grows around the

globe. In 2013, worldwide refined copper con-

sumption is expected to touch 21 million

tonnes, with market analysts predicting further

growth to more than 23 million tonnes by 2015.

And although the economic decline around the

world – and in Europe in particular – has tem-

pered growth, there are many positive signs for

the medium and long term, mainly from

emerging economies like India and China.

These sunny prospects marked the starting

point for Metal Bulletin’s second Copper Recy-

cling Conference, which was held in mid-June

in Düsseldorf, which lies in Germany’s Ruhr

industrial hub and at the heart of the wider

European copper consuming and recycling

community. The event was close to home for

nearly a quarter of the 80 delegates attending

the event, including Volker Pawlitzki, vice

president of commercial recycling/precious

metals at European copper giant Aurubis.

Seeking an ‘holistic approach’
In his keynote address, Pawlitzki predicted a

‘bright future’ for the red metal. But he also

pointed to some severe threats and challenges

as copper recycling becomes increasingly com-

plex. ‘Technically, economically, ecologically

and politically, at all levels we see changes and

we see that all these are more or less increas-

ingly affecting each other,’ he explained to del-

egates.

According to Pawlitzki, the answer lies in what

he calls ‘an holistic approach’, meaning that ‘all

levels need to co-operate better to keep the

whole system successfully running’. He said

copper recyclers should take steps to develop

‘best practice for sustainability’, adding: ‘Cop-

per recycling is living sustainably, and we as a

whole industry should put more effort in

addressing this. We should have a strong voice

and should be heard.’

A positive stride forward was announced at the

conference by Aurubis’ head of quality manage-

ment Andreas Nolte. The company was to invest

Euro 200 million in new technology in order to

meet with environmental standards and the

increasingly complex processing and recovery

of a growing number of metals, he confirmed.

Pawlitzki used the conference stage to show his

C o p p e r By Martijn Reintjes

Volker Pawlitzki: ‘We should
have a strong voice and should
be heard’.

Growing appetite
for versatile metal

China has big expansion plans for its existing copper scrap smelters.

RI-6_Copper.indd 52 01-08-13 11:47