Copper wire and cable still in its plastic or rubber insulation, sold on recovered-copper content and processed in granulators or stripping lines rather than burnt.
Copper wire and cable still in its plastic or rubber insulation, sold on recovered-copper content and processed in granulators or stripping lines rather than burnt.
Insulated wire is the largest copper scrap stream by volume: building wire, power cable, telephone cable, appliance cords and the harnesses pulled from cars and electronics. It is sold by expected copper recovery — a heavy power cable may yield 70 or 80 per cent copper, a bundle of thin appliance cord perhaps 30 per cent. Lots are usually described by their recovery band and whether they contain lead-sheathed or tinned wire.
Processing has moved decisively from burning to mechanical separation. Cable granulators chop the wire and separate copper from plastic by density on a vibrating table; large cables are stripped whole. Burning insulation is prohibited in most countries and produces burnt wire that only makes No. 2 grade.
The United States and Europe export large tonnages of insulated wire, and Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, India and Pakistan run the granulation industries that process it. China, which once took most of the world’s insulated wire, now admits only the clean recovered copper, so the processing has shifted to its neighbours. Lead-sheathed and PVC-heavy cables are regulated under the Basel Convention in several jurisdictions.
Code: ReMA Druid (insulated copper wire scrap)
The main importing countries for this grade — each links to the country page with its mills, smelters, price references and named firms.