Material flow accounting of the copper cycle in Brazil

This study is a quantitative description of Brazil's copper life cycle, comprising mining, refining, manufacturing, use and waste generation in the year 2005. A substance flow analysis is presented and the results are compared with existing values for other countries and economic regions (Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa).The results show that Brazil is a net importer of copper both in concentrate and in the form of finished goods (total net weight 64 kt). Internal copper consumption is 1.44 kg per inhabitant per year and 0.52 kg/inhab/year is accumulated in the form of stock. Otherwise, the amount of waste generated (1.4 t/inhab/year) is close to that generated in Europe (1.9 t/inhab/year).The copper distribution profile in waste flow is characterized by similar values for waste flow from construction and demolition (27.8%) and from electrical and electronic equipments (27.7%), whilst municipal solid waste and non-dangerous and industrial waste present 19.7% and 13.2%, respectively. Waste from electrical and electronic equipment and motor vehicles sent to scrap, in spite of representing just 1% of all waste in terms of mass, contain almost 38% of all residual copper (28% and 10%, respectively).Brazil presents a secondary copper-recycling rate of around 25%, differing from that of other developing countries because it imports little scrap copper and releases 142 kt into the biosphere (0.75 kg/inhab).We make the case that Brazil's government can feasibly encourage reductions in demand for this metal while increasing copper recycling rates through a two-edged strategy based on education and public awareness on the one hand – making a case for the unsustainability of current copper production and consumption models – and on the other, implementing economic tools to transfer costs of post-use recovery to manufacturers and consumers.