The recovery of copper wiring will drive a ‘green gold rush’ in 2025

Demand for copper for use in electric vehicles and renewable power infrastructure has contributed to a recent rise in the value of copper, and the price of copper is expected to climb further over the next decade as economies continue their clean energy transition.

At the same time, telecoms operators around the world are getting closer to the point at which they can completely decommission their copper-based networks. Section by section, networks are upgraded with fibre-optic cabling; building by building, premises are moved from copper-based telephony and broadband to fibre-based services. 

This leaves a valuable resource unused. In addition to the cost savings they make by switching off legacy networks, those that remove and recycle their copper cables stand to gain in three other key ways:

1. The larger operators could generate billions of dollars. For instance, the tonnage of copper in BT's network would be worth over USD3 billion at current prices, although the value of decommissioned copper cabling prior to removal and recycling will be lower. See Recovering copper leads to potentially huge volumes of avoided emissions.
2. They can improve their recycling performance. Operators increasingly report their waste and recycling figures in their ESG reports, and many admit that less waste is recovered than is ideal. Recycling the copper waste will have a big short-term impact on operators’ statistics.
3. Operators can also improve their carbon emissions profile. Copper recycling is substantially less carbon intensive than copper mining. Although there is no formal GHG protocol for reporting avoided emissions (also known as Scope 4 emissions) at this point, counting avoided emissions is a subject of intense debate, and some operators do already report avoided emissions metrics. Copper recycling – based on the emissions saved by subsequent users of the metal – could avoid more emissions than some operators’ total Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions for a year.

Some operators have already announced contracts for the removal and recycling of their copper. Others have sold their copper assets to infrastructure investors who are clearly interested in the long-term recycling value. During 2025 more operators will pursue the green gold rush offered by copper.