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Tariffs Are Making Copper Harder to Get. Recycling Could be a Quick Fix
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Today: Recovering the metal could ease ballooning demand amid an AI data-center boom; the electric vehicle charger buildout has accelerated, but the EV market has stalled; single-use coffee cups could be on the way out.
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Copper recycling at Aurubis's plant in Augusta, Ga. Photo: Aurubis
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Welcome back: German metal recycler Aurubis has just fired up its first facility in the U.S. The plant in Georgia will be the largest and most advanced of its type in the country, according to the company.
It is coming online as the AI boom and the pressing needs of everything from electric-vehicle manufacturers to missile makers are buoying demand, WSJ Pro Sustainable Business's Clara Hudson reports.
Recycling copper could reduce the U.S.’s need for imports amid new tariffs, shifting trade policies and a technological race with China. Building a smelter for metal recycling is a lot faster than getting a mine up and running, Aurubis’s president and managing director says.
One challenge is in making reclaimed copper to the high standards required for electronics. And, despite bipartisan support for salvaging metals from waste, building widespread infrastructure for recycling is a work in progress.
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The artificial-intelligence boom has ushered in one of the costliest building sprees in world history. (WSJ)
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One of the world’s largest miners is digging into America’s junk drawers, old phones and landfills. The quarry: bits of copper. (WSJ)
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Elon Musk gambles billions in Memphis to catch up on AI. (WSJ)
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Content from our sponsor: Deloitte
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Sustainability Attitudes, Beliefs Shift as More People Endure Extreme Weather
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As more people around the world directly experience extreme weather, Deloitte’s Sustainability Tracker signals how their thinking on environmental sustainability is shifting. Read More
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America Keeps Adding EV Chargers. But Are There Enough EVs?
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Public charging stations have become more visible, with more emphasis on fast systems suited for road trips. Photo: Kelly Serfoss/Electrify America
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It is getting easier to find EV chargers in the U.S. just as the market for electric vehicles hits the skids, the WSJ's Jennifer Hiller writes.
The long-beleaguered business of charging battery-powered cars is maturing after a two-year construction spree. The number of fast-charging ports—those that can repower a battery in 20 minutes to an hour—rose more than 80% in the two years that ended in August to more than 60,300, according to federal data from the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation.
The pace of the buildout has accelerated of late: The U.S. added more than 7,000 fast chargers in the first half of the year, up 18% from the same period last year.
The timing is somewhat ironic. EV sales are expected to plunge following this week’s expiration of a $7,500 federal tax credit that boosted the number of battery-powered cars on the road.
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After the expiration of a $7,500 tax credit, automakers still have about 134,000 unsold new electric vehicles. (WSJ)
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Tesla set a new sales record thanks in large part to U.S. customers who rushed to take advantage of a federal EV credit. (WSJ)
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That Single-Use Coffee Cup Could Be on the Way Out
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A returnable-cup program in Aarhus, Denmark, has saved an estimated 1.1 million disposable cups from being thrown away since the start of last year, city officials say. Photo: Zuma Press
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When you buy a coffee to go, what would it take for you to return the cup? A growing number of businesses and governments in Europe and North America are trying to answer that question as they look to promote reusable beverage containers, Saabira Chaudhuri writes for WSJ.
In Aarhus, Denmark, 70 cafes and other venues are participating in a returnable-cup program that has saved an estimated 1.1 million disposable cups from being thrown away since its inception at the start of last year, according to the city’s project manager for reusables.
Others are turning to radio-frequency identification technology. At Blenheim Palace in England, the birthplace of Winston Churchill and a popular tourist attraction, hot drinks come in cups containing an RFID chip. If the cup isn’t returned to one of the receptacles on site within a week, a deposit of about $2.70, is forfeited. The return rate stands at about 85%.
The venue has “totally eradicated” the 400,000 single-use cups it was using each year, says a spokeswoman for the startup running the program.
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Shoppers are walking away from purchases in stores over worries about unsustainable packaging and concerns about plastics. (WSJ)
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Plug Power stock soared after the U.S.’s largest producer of clean hydrogen got a new highest price target on Wall Street. (Barron's)
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French private equity firm Ardian agreed to acquire Energia Group, a renewable electricity provider in Ireland. (WSJ)
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ExxonMobil’s support for a price on carbon is a strategic business move. (Forbes)
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Nestlé and Mars among companies warning against another delay to the EU’s supply chain deforestation law. (ESG Today)
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Global food prices eased slightly in September, driven by lower prices for sugar and dairy, the Food and Agriculture Organization said. (WSJ)
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Feeding the world will always come with an environmental price tag, a major food study has said. (FT)
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Energy security is increasingly exposed to geopolitical risk, from Russia's war in Ukraine to the shift from renewables. (Dow Jones Risk Journal)
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