French subsea power cable maker and services provider Nexans has launched a cable recycling and recovery service in Europe, aiming to address the growing copper shortage by transforming the waste into recycled raw materials.
Nexans is stepping up its circular economy strategy and is launching CableLoop, a unique recycling and recovery service for cable offcuts.
The French company buys used cables, end of construction site electrical wires or obsolete industrial cables, and transforms them into valuable, infinitely reusable resources for its partners, customers, suppliers and the cable industry.
Two versions of the newly launched service are available - CableLoop Enterprises - the service for companies via on-site collection, and CableLoop Professionals - a new service offered by specialized distributors, for professional customers and electricians who can return their used cables to their branch.
With these new recycling loops, Nexans aims to collect more than 800 metric tons of used cables by 2025 and to expand this circular model by developing waste collection and recovery from the industrial ecosystem and from its electrical equipment installation and distribution partners in France and Europe.
Nexans will offer tailor-made logistics solutions and simplified, autonomous waste management on a 24-hour web platform together with traceability of the entire chain of operations.
The move comes at a time when demand for electricity is set to increase by 35% by 2050, and the world is heading for a risk of shortages of raw materials – including copper, Nexans said.
Nexans already recycles over 40,000 metric tons of its own production waste every year. In Europe, this cable sorting and recovery process is partly carried out through the RecyCâbles joint venture created with Suez in northwestern France.
"Nexans has been aware of the looming copper shortage for many years now, and has been warning of the consequences. Our strategy incorporates circularity, an essential response to resource scarcity. Electrifying the future expresses Nexans' conviction not only in terms of innovation but also, and above all, in creating a responsible and sustainable ecosystem for our partners, customers and employees,” said Guillaume Teixeira, Managing Director of Nexans France.