When most people think about recycling old electronics, they are thinking about keeping things out of landfills or wiping sensitive data off a hard drive. What many people do not realize is that inside nearly every device they have ever owned, there is a metal that the global economy quite literally cannot function without. That metal is copper, and it is one of the most valuable and endlessly recyclable materials in the entire e-waste stream. At Recycle IT Utah, we serve businesses and residents across Salt Lake, Davis, Weber, and Utah counties, and copper is one of the most important reasons the electronics recycling industry exists at all.
Copper Is Everywhere in Your Electronics
Before getting into the value and the recycling process, it helps to understand just how pervasive copper is inside modern electronics. Copper serves as the backbone of modern electronic infrastructure, with its exceptional electrical conductivity making it indispensable in everything from circuit boards and wiring to connectors and components. Okon Recycling
That covers a lot of ground. In practical terms, copper shows up in the wiring harnesses inside desktop computers and servers, the circuit board traces that carry electrical signals between components, the power cables running between devices, the coils inside motors and fans, the connectors on every port and plug, and the heat sinks and thermal components that keep processors from overheating. A typical smartphone contains nearly 40 percent copper by weight, significantly more than what is found in copper ore, though recovering it involves carefully separating it from dozens of other materials. Okon Recycling
Beyond electronics, copper is the metal the modern world is built on. The electrical and electronics sectors consume vast quantities of copper for wiring, circuit boards, and components. Modern homes contain hundreds of feet of copper wiring, while industrial facilities often house miles of it. The renewable energy boom has increased demand, as wind turbines and solar panels require significant amounts of copper to function efficiently. Construction and plumbing industries rely heavily on copper piping and fixtures, and automotive manufacturing uses copper in everything from electrical systems to radiators. Okon Recycling
Why Copper Holds Its Value
Copper is not valuable simply because it is useful today. It is valuable because it is useful permanently. Copper used once will be identical to that used one thousand or one million times. Its properties and quality do not deteriorate with use, a trait which allows copper to retain its value continuously. CuSP
That is a remarkable characteristic that very few materials share. Recycling copper requires up to 85 percent less energy than mining and refining new copper, significantly reducing environmental impact while preserving a finite resource. This combination of infinite recyclability and massive energy savings is why copper scrap is treated so differently from most other recycled materials. Okon Recycling
The market reflects that value clearly. In 2025, copper is commanding between $3.50 and $4.50 per pound at most scrap yards, making it worth 30 to 40 times more than standard steel. Among all grades, bare bright copper wire commands the highest prices, requiring that the material be completely free of coatings, solder, or corrosion to qualify for top rates.[1] Okon Recycling
And the long-term outlook for copper prices is only getting stronger. A June 2025 analysis from McKinsey projects a 3.6 million metric ton global copper shortfall by 2035, identifying e-scrap as among the most important untapped sources of refined copper. For the recycling industry, that is a significant signal that the copper sitting inside your old computers and servers is only going to become more strategically important over time. E-Scrap News
How Recycled Copper Gets Turned Back Into New Products
One of the most compelling things about copper is how clean and efficient the recycling process is. Copper recycling follows a straightforward pathway, beginning with the collection of scrap from various sources including old electrical wiring, plumbing pipes, and discarded electronics. Once sorted, copper scrap is shredded into smaller pieces, melted at high temperatures, purified to remove impurities, solidified into ingots, and finally fabricated into new products. This complete cycle uses only 15 percent of the energy required for mining and processing new copper ore, producing the same quality material. Okon Recycling
The purification process is particularly noteworthy. During melting, impurities float to the top as slag and are removed, taking advantage of copper’s unique properties. The purification process can achieve copper with 99.9 percent purity or higher, which is essential for applications in electronics and electrical systems. The pure copper is then cast into ingots or billets, which can be used to make new products such as pipe, wire, and other industrial components. This may involve rolling, drawing, or extruding the copper into the desired shape before it is sold back to manufacturers to be reused in the same industries the scrap originated from. Okon RecyclingLinkedIn
In short, the copper from the server sitting in your storage room today could be inside a new electric vehicle, a solar panel installation, or a data center wire harness within a matter of months.
Scrapping Copper: A Real Income Stream
Copper’s consistent value is also the reason a significant community of professional and part-time scrappers has built an entire livelihood around finding and recycling it. Scrap yards across the country see a steady stream of people who have figured out that copper is the single most rewarding metal to collect and sell.
Copper is the most valuable scrap metal, selling for $2 to $3 per pound as of late 2025. Collecting around 50 pounds of copper tubing alone could earn a scrapper roughly $160 in a single haul. That math adds up fast for anyone who knows where to look and has the means to collect and transport material. FinanceBuzz
During the pandemic, with so much job instability, many part-time scrappers turned into full-time scrappers and made a lot of money doing it. It takes talent, people skills, and effort, but it can be done, and if done well it can be super profitable. Anyone can become a full-time scrapper, though it is important to understand it is not a path to getting rich quickly. It will be hard work, but you will be able to work on your own schedule and answer only to yourself. Smith Iron & Metal
The amount of money any one person can make scrapping ranges from a few extra dollars a month to a few thousand if you have a connection to a business that generates scrap regularly. That last point is key. Businesses that regularly retire electronics, including IT companies, offices doing equipment upgrades, and institutions clearing out server rooms, are some of the most valuable relationships a scrapper can cultivate. By going on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace, scrappers can find metal by taking electronics, cars, and appliances off people’s hands, earning income while helping others dispose of materials responsibly. The Art of ManlinessKlein Recycling
For scrappers specifically targeting copper, the grade of what you bring in matters a great deal. Stripping insulation off copper wire before selling it increases its grade and value significantly, as coated copper requires additional processing work and fetches a much lower price than clean, uncoated material. Sorting and presenting clean material is what separates casual scrappers from people who do this seriously and profitably. CJD E-Cycling
Recycling Electronics Responsibly in Utah
Whether you are a business clearing out a server room, an organization upgrading office equipment, or a household with a pile of old computers and devices, the copper inside that equipment deserves to be recovered properly rather than end up in a landfill.
At Recycle IT Utah, we offer free electronics recycling pickup for businesses and residents across Salt Lake, Davis, Weber, and Utah counties. Every pickup includes a Certificate of Destruction, and our hard drive destruction process follows NIST 800-88 physical destruction standards to ensure your data is permanently unrecoverable before any material enters the recycling stream.
Fill out our inquiry form here to schedule your free pickup and make sure the copper in your old electronics gets back into the supply chain where it belongs.
Citations
- Okon Recycling. “Discover the Highest Paying Scrap Metals in 2025.” okonrecycling.com/industrial-scrap-metal-recycling/copper-recovery/highest-paying-scrap-metals-2025/
- Okon Recycling. “The Growing Importance of Copper Recycling for Electronics Waste.” okonrecycling.com/industrial-scrap-metal-recycling/copper-recovery/copper-recycling-electronics-waste/
- Resource Recycling. “Analysis: Copper Set for New Investment, Recycling Growth.” resource-recycling.com/e-scrap/2025/10/23/analysis-copper-set-for-new-investment-recycling-growth/
- Okon Recycling. “Copper Recycling Process: Collection, Melting, Purification, and Industrial Applications.” okonrecycling.com/industrial-scrap-metal-recycling/copper-recovery/copper-recycling-process/
- FinanceBuzz. “How to Sell Scrap Metal.” financebuzz.com/scrapping-metal-for-money
- Smith Iron and Metal. “Full-Time Scrapping Tips.” smithironmetal.com/full-time-scrapping/
- CJD E-Cycling. “Proper Copper, Electronics, and Circuit Board Recycling.” cjdecycling.com/proper-copper-electronics-and-circuit-board-recycling-through-cjd-e-cycling/