Metal Recycling

In addition to processing copper concentrates, recycling copper scrap, alloy scrap and other recycling materials is a central business activity in copper production at Aurubis. Raw material purchasing is managed centrally by Aurubis AG’s Supply Chain Management.

Metal recycling means raw material security and environmental protection

Europe has a high copper demand but limited natural resources. Metal recycling opens up the metal reserves found in products and therefore makes a considerable contribution to the supply of copper and other metals. 

Copper recycling fulfills the criteria for sustainable development and is the foundation of modern recycling management. It conserves natural resources, reduces energy demand and prevents the loss of valuable materials.

Most non-ferrous metals and precious metals have outstanding recovery properties. Recycling copper, silver, gold and other non-ferrous metals doesn’t lead to losses of quality in the metals and can be repeated as often as desired.
 

State-of-the-art recycling technologies

Aurubis efficiently processes a variety of recycling raw materials and recovers the individual metals in an environmentally sound manner that conserves resources with state-of-the-art recycling technologies. About 700,000 t of recycling raw materials of varying qualities and compositions are processed annually in our facilities.
 

Metal recycling at Aurubis                                              

Recycling at Aurubis starts with a reliable acceptance and assessment of the material, which includes precise chemical analysis, preparation and pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical processing. It ends with the fabrication of high-quality products.