A campaign has been launched to encourage recycling of old cables that contain copper wire, to prevent the need for as much of the metal to be mined.
► Estimated 627 million cables binned or unused
► Recycling unused copper will help to meet growing demand
The Great Cable Challenge was unveiled as part of the wider Recycle Your Electricals programme, to mark International E-Waste Day on 14 October 2024. The idea is to reduce e-waste by getting businesses, organisations and households to recycle the estimated 1.3 million cables that are being thrown away or left lying around doing nothing in draws and cupboards.
Research conducted for the campaign estimates that the average UK home is holding onto around 15 cables and discarding further eight. For businesses, the total could be much higher. A further estimate put the number of unused or binned electricals in the UK at there are 1.3 billion, including 627 million cables.
Demand for copper is growing fast and usefully, the metal can be recycled continuously without losing any of its strength. If the copper in all the unused cables were to be re-used, it could go a long way to meeting market shortages.
A useful PDF identifying the different types of cables that might contain copper but may now be out of use, is available here.
More on the campaign can be found here.
Recycle Your Electricals is a UK-wide campaign that aims to motivate and make it easier for everyone to reuse and recycle unwanted electricals. It is led by Material Focus, an independent not-for-profit organisation focused on recycling.
