What types of copper wire can be recycled？

All types of copper wire can be recycled, including bare bright copper wire, insulated copper wire, twisted copper wire, and copper tubing. In other words, just like in our daily life, household appliance copper wires, vehicle copper wires and industrial copper cable wires can be recycled.

We know that all types of copper wire can be recycled, but different types of copper wire have different recycling values. Here are the copper contents and recycling values of some types of copper wire commonly found in our daily life. If you are interested in the types of copper wire, you can read on.

Types of copper wire

Household appliance copper wires:

The copper content in household appliance wires varies from 40%-70%. So the costs of scrap wires are different, too. The separation rate to recycle this type of copper wire would be higher than 99%.

Vehicle copper wires:

The vehicle copper wires include automobile wires, electrical vehicle wires and motorcycle wires. Among them, the automobile copper wires contain most copper(50-60%). In the electrical vehicle wires and motorcycle wires, there are about 30% copper. So the cost of automobile copper wires is highest.

Industrial copper cable wires:

The industrial copper cable wires are usually thicker. But it’s no problem to process by proper type of recycling machine. If most of them are thicker than 30mm, a shredder will be needed to pre-process them before crushing.

Why do different types of copper wire have different recycling values? This is determined by the grade of the copper wire. A better understanding of the different grades of copper wire will help you to understand the profits that can be made from recycling scrap copper wire. Below is an introduction to the different grades of copper wire.

#1 INSULATED WIRE

#1 insulated wire includes clean, unalloyed, untinned, and uncoated copper wires or cables often insulated with plastic. However, insulation isn’t always stripped, but if there were any, the scrap should resemble a bright and shiny copper wire with 16-gauge thickness.

#2 INSULATED WIRE

This copper grade features unalloyed wire, thinner than 16 gauge, and consists of heavy, plastic, or double insulation. It is a standard grade used in most telecommunication wiring and electronics, such as extension codes. Some coatings such as nickel and other degrees of corrosion on the copper wire can meet this classification.

Copper

BARE BRIGHT COPPER

This is the most valuable copper castoff metal among scrap dealers because it is a high-paying grade. Bare bright copper is uncoated, unalloyed, bare wire or cable, no more than 16 gauge in thickness. It is quickly classified as a #1 copper quality scrap if it lacks paint or impurities without copper piping.

#1 COPPER

#1 Copper is the second most profitable scrap of copper , comprising clippings, bus bars, and wire with at least 1/16th inch diameter. To be categorized as #1 Copper, the wire should be sparkling in appearance, uncoated and unalloyed. Clean copper tubing is an example of # Copper grade as it is free against fittings, paint, solder, and other materials.

#2 COPPER

This is characterized by miscellaneous, unalloyed wire or solid metal with solder or other coatings such as paint. #2 Copper includes dirty copper metal with a 94-96% copper composition and should be uninsulated and with a 16th-inch diameter.

When you have an understanding of the various types of copper wire, this will help you in your copper wire recycling business. Generally speaking, most types of copper wires can be recycled. But please note that if your copper wires have rubber insulation, you’d better pick them out before recycling. The copper wire recycling machine in market is more suitable for copper wires with insulated plastic.

Copper wire recycling machine

Excluding copper wires, aluminum wires can be recycled too. Under standard configuration, the copper wires and aluminum wires need to be recycled separately. If you want to process them together or you have the composite cables including aluminum and copper inside, a special configuration would be needed. DOING has its own engineers who can customize the copper wire recycling machine to suit your needs.

If you are interested in the copper wire recycling business, welcome to contact DOING Group, who is a professional manufacturer of copper wire recycling machine for more than 10 years. The dry type copper wire recycling machine is DOING most popular product because of DOING green characteristic and high quality performance.