Copper Supply Gap Looms as E-Waste Becomes Crucial Resource
The world is facing a copper supply gap by 2035, driven by electrification, grid expansion, and digital infrastructure. Analysts from the International Energy Agency to Wood Mackenzie are projecting supply deficits of anywhere between 10% and 30%. The metal running through every discarded phone, server, and television is in short supply on global markets at the same time most of it is being thrown away.
Electronic waste, or e-waste, contains a significant amount of copper. A tonne of printed circuit boards can contain more copper than 30 to 100 tonnes of mined ore, depending on the deposit. The average smartphone holds an estimated 15 to 30 grams of copper in its wiring, connectors, and circuitry, while desktop computers or laptops carry considerably more, between 0.5 and 1.5 kilograms per device.
The grade advantage of e-waste is significant, with printed circuit boards carrying copper at 15% to 30% by weight, compared to conventional mined ore which contains less than 1%. This concentration advantage means each tonne of circuit boards processed for copper delivers returns comparable to a small mine. The economics of formal e-waste recycling are improving as copper prices climb.
However, only 22.3% of global e-waste was formally collected and recycled in an environmentally sound manner in 2022. The remaining roughly 78% went to landfill, informal processing, or undocumented channels. The gap between what the technology can do and what actually happens is stark, with urban mining barriers explaining why the formal recycling rate has stalled well below what the smelting technology is capable of achieving.