Great cable challenge aims to tackle copper crunch
E-waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams in the world, and the UK is the second largest contributor globally. We must tackle e-waste to help recover valuable and critical materials contained within it and to limit the environmental and human health impacts of e-waste that is improperly processes or mismanaged.鈥�
We need these materials for the technologies that will help us decarbonise as a society, as well as in other sectors such as healthcare and defence, but some of them are facing supply chain issues. RSC analysis estimates that we need a significant investment of around 350,000 tonnes of copper to meet government targets for wind and solar power by 2030.
Worryingly, copper production is struggling to meet demand already and we are potentially facing an imminent and substantial imbalance between copper supply and copper demand. Copper is just one of the many vital materials that are needed for the energy transition, others such as lithium, indium and rare earth elements are already classed as ‘critical minerals’ in the UK.
Ahead of International E-Waste Day, we’re supporting in launching ‘The Great Cable Challenge’ – a nationwide campaign urging us all to collect and pass on the millions of cables sitting idle across UK households, with the goal of collectively recycling one million cables.
Izzi Monk, RSC Policy Adviser for the Environment, urges people to look to the future and do what they can. “The UK needs to wake up to just how important copper is in achieving our greener future – our analysis suggests we need a significant investment of around 350,000 tonnes for wind and solar power generation by 2030.
"We are potentially facing imminent and substantial supply concerns where we won't be able to meet the global demand for this vital material. That’s why we’re calling for the government to commit to a strategic, joined-up approach to materials that considers these supply risks.
”Upping secondary sourcing of copper through recycling is a really important route towards greater supply security – the government needs to invest in technologies and infrastructure to make sure recycling can be grown without creating worse environmental, social and health impacts. As a nation, if we can crack the formula for recycling the copper we already have, we can make a real difference for the future of our planet.”
The ongoing fight against e-waste and for a circular economy - find out more...
Starting with the 2019 launch of the award-winning , the RSC has been consistently highlighting the challenges of managing e-waste.
This year, Izzi Monk gave on electronic waste and a circular economy, as well as responding to a government consultation and call for evidence on e-waste. Both gave us the opportunity to set out some of the major challenges with e-waste currently, and our calls to government. We also launched our call for the development and delivery of a strategy – co-ordinated by central government – to enable a circular economy of materials in the UK.
You can . If you’d like to learn more about e-waste, is a good starting point, or you can .
E-waste amnesty – could you organise one too?
Marking International E-Waste Day, we have regularly held a technology/e-waste amnesty at our Cambridge and London offices, supporting our colleagues in their own efforts to avoid stockpiling electricals that could be usefully recycled.
The first one, held in 2019 to mark our precious elements campaign and International Year of the Periodic Table, produced some surprising results – not only did we see a huge range of e-waste items, from drills and laptops to phones and gaming devices, the cable spaghetti that came with the defunct devices was a large proportion of the overall waste in its own right. Fast forward five years and we’re supporting the on this very topic.
Could you organise a tech amnesty at your workplace, school, university or community centre? There are a range of organisations who could support you, so check out the Great Cable Challenge site for more information on where to start.