Temporal Copper Recycling Prospects Towards Sustainable Supply and Emission Reductions

Copper is consumed and produced by a wide variety of nations, triggering resource depletion and emission generation issues. The end-of-life recycling optimization can be used as a transparent, resilient, and broadly applicable solution along the circular economy strategies to decrease such metal supply and associated environmental risks. Here we provide a comprehensive recycling scenario approach to assessing the future copper use sustainability in the entire globe and all economic regions representing over 50 countries. We find that the advanced recycling (estimated at 40-65%) will be more advantages for populous and high-industrial growth regions such as Asia, Europe and the United Kingdom, North America, and Southeastern Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States in regard to the copper demand and process emission reductions. We conclude that more-striving policies and regulations, systematic scrap collection, and efficient technologies are required to adequately achieving the recycling targets for the future sustainability of resource flows.