For something to have scrap value, you have to be able to offload it easily. It would be kind of interesting trying to explain to anyone why and how you managed to chance upon an incredible length of cable of esoteric material, which is used only by power companies and railroads. So instead of getting value one is likely to land up in prison.
The whole point of recycling is to keep resource use up and energy use down. Complex energy-intensive processes required to separate metallic bonds runs completely counter to the whole idea. The fact is that recycling is considered a threat by the manufacturer and they make it clear they've done as much as they can to make recycling as difficult and fruitless as possible.
You are missing the point. The point of these bi-metallic conductors is not to make recycling difficult, but to make profit from theft difficult.
Yes, recycling cost will be more than if pure metal were used. However, this is not a manufacturer issue. It is an issue primarily focused on dealing with premature recycling of materials by unscrupulous operator causing great deal of disruption in lives of normal people. These solutions were developed to deal with a real socio-technical problem that exists in many parts of the world.
Which manufacturer is making recycling "as difficult and fruitless as possible?"
I was simply reading from the maker's own documents. As for knee-jerk, you must mean this...
Thanks for showing us how it's done, in the exact same post no less. Frankly, I'd want better regulation of recyclers. I'm tired of reading stories about how they'll accept virtually anything despite all signs contrary to legitimate acquisition. That might have even more impact on theft than creating a bunch of difficult to recycle mixed metals.
Exactly. And layered materials with very different melting points and other properties are not that hard to separate for recycling with proper equipment either. But why stop when you have a good opportunity to rant about a favorite hobby horse?
Wire is all recycled, from the really valuable stuff like copper, to the less valuable stuff like galvanized steel Wire recycling has been the norm since way before recycling became trendy.Exactly. And layered materials with very different melting points and other properties are not that hard to separate for recycling with proper equipment either. But why stop when you have a good opportunity to rant about a favorite hobby horse?
Yup, it is necessary to enforce rules on scrap yards. Somehow they managed to pull that off in the seemingly more anarchic India. But the net result was that the organized crime outfits setup their own melting operations to produce metal ingots, and this in a country where you needed a permit to do almost anything. The trick was to keep the individual operations small enough to pass just under the radar of the regulators. Amazing how co-evolution takes place between law enforcement and law breakers.
INDEED! If scrap metal buyers, some of whom appear to have no qualms about buying anything, were required to keep records of what and from whom they bought we would be well on the way to solving this problem. If there's less of a market for stolen wire (or manholes or drain grates or statuary or whatever) there would be less of an incentive to steal it. These would not be onerous "Job Killing" regulations, the pawn industry is regulated much like this and seems to be flourishing these days.
I am sure many - maybe the majority - do. We take a lot of scrap metal of all kinds to dealers and they indeed check the legitimacy of its origin, we sign papers and are paid by check, etc. The guys breaking into summer homes and ripping out all the copper are not selling too much of it around here any more. But it is much easier to lump them all together into one bunch of idiots to criticize - kinda like truck drivers, or lead service attendants, fill in the blanks for yourself.
