Press Release

    Wieland launches cuprolife – copper tube made from 100 percent recycled copper

     

    • TÜV SÜD verifies method for calculating 100 percent recycled content 
    • Wieland promotes sustainable and circular building of the future 
    • Premiere at the ISH trade fair

    On March 13, Wieland launches a new copper tube at the ISH trade fair in Frankfurt that advances both building technology and construction in the area of sustainability: cuprolife. Wieland has thus succeeded in further closing its own material cycles in terms of sustainability, as the new tube is made of 100 percent recycled material.

     Since copper can be fully recycled indefinitely and without any loss of quality, almost half of today's copper demand in Europe is currently covered by recycling. The Wieland Group continues to actively promote this development in the industry and is investing in the construction of copper recycling plants in Shelbyville, Kentucky (USA), as well as at the Vöhringen (DE) site. In this way, Wieland is increasing its own annual recycling capacity by around 180,000 tons. "Depending on the material, we are already able to achieve a high proportion of recycled content in many semi-finished products – with the cuprolife installation tube we are now up to 100 percent," states Anton Zierhut, President of the Business Unit Extruded Products at Wieland Group.

     

    Verification by TÜV SÜD 

    Every cuprolife tube from Wieland is manufactured using a process that has 100 percent copper recyclate according to the mass balance approach. Thus, the company uses primary and secondary raw materials equally in the processing of copper. The secondary raw materials are mainly scrap, which is returned to the recycling loop and processed. In the long term, this process means that fewer ores are mined, since raw materials are used that were already part of the cycle. For production, this means that raw materials of different origins are processed, which are then proportionally contained in the end product. With a TÜV SÜD-certified product such as cuprolife, the proportion of primary materials thus decreases perspectively. In turn, the proportion of secondary materials, such as scrap, increases accordingly.

     

    Pilot product with potential for more 

    cuprolife is just the start for Wieland products of the future: "We have started in the field of building services and plan to revolutionize other areas of application as well. Products made of lead-free alloys as well as products like cuprolife play a main role in this revolution," says Dr. Erwin Mayr, CEO of the Wieland Group. "Additionally, we are investmenting in recycling centers – the sum of these activities enables us to completely close our recycling loops."

     

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    [Image] cuprolife – Wieland's copper tube made with 100 percent recycled content.

     

    Get in touch

    Wieland Group
    Dr. Wolfgang Albeck | Director Corporate Communications
    Graf-Arco-Straße 36 | 89079 Ulm | Germany 
    P +49 152 59719639  | press@wieland.com