Recycling electrical cable: from waste to copper granules
Electrical cable is one of the few industrial waste streams where the difference between "handed over as is" and "properly processed" is measured directly in money. Here is what happens inside the Cristur plant, and what you can do at source so the material reaches its value.
In short
- Cable is a composite: its real value only shows once the conductor is separated from the insulation.
- Processing is purely mechanical — granulation, screening, density separation. Burning insulation is illegal and destroys value.
- Granules are a specified product priced close to the metal quotation; raw cable is priced with an uncertainty discount.
What goes into the plant
From a recycling point of view, an end-of-life cable is a composite: a copper or aluminium conductor, PVC or polyolefin insulation, sometimes screening, steel armour and filler. The value is in the conductor, but recovering it clean depends on how well everything else separates.
We process overhead and underground network cable, industrial cable, automotive harnesses and cable from electrical and electronic equipment. Each type has a different metal-to-insulation ratio, and that ratio is what sets the price per tonne of raw cable at intake.
Granulation, separation, granules
The mechanical process starts with staged granulation, reducing the cable to fragments a few millimetres across and breaking the physical bond between conductor and insulation. Screening by particle size follows, then density separation — on a shaking table or in an air stream — which exploits the large density difference between metal and polymer.
The output is high-purity copper or aluminium granules, ready to go straight to melting, plus a plastic fraction that is recovered separately. The process is purely mechanical: nothing is burned. Burning insulation is both illegal and a source of emissions that no amount of metal recovery justifies.
Why granules rather than raw cable
Cable sold as it comes is paid at a price that prices in uncertainty: the buyer does not know exactly how much metal will come out of it, so the risk is covered in the offer. Granules are a specified product — metal type, purity, particle size — and trade close to the metal quotation.
For a company generating waste cable, that means the value is recovered where the processing happens. With our own plant at Cristur, the difference stays in the chain instead of stopping at an intermediary, and it can show up in the intake price.
Preparing cable for collection
Separate cable into broad categories — copper versus aluminium, power cable versus thin data harnesses — and keep it free of soil, concrete and water. There is no need to strip it: the plant does that better, faster and without the metal loss that manual stripping causes.
Empty drums, steel armour and metal fittings go separately, as ferrous scrap. And if the quantity justifies a container, schedule the pickup together with the right container, so you are not paying haulage for air.
Frequently asked questions
- Do I need to strip the cable before handing it over?
- No. The plant separates conductor from insulation with smaller losses than any manual stripping, and the time spent stripping is rarely recovered in the price.
- What happens to the plastic that comes out?
- The PVC and polyolefin fraction produced by separation is recovered separately as secondary raw material — it is not disposed of.
- Can steel-armoured cable be processed too?
- Yes. The armour is separated during the process and recovered as ferrous scrap, while the conductor follows the normal route to granulation.
This article is informational and reflects our practice at the date of publication. Romanian environmental legislation changes frequently — for your company's specific situation, check the texts in force and consult the environmental protection agency or a specialist adviser.