Industrial Scrap and Critical Minerals
Facts checked against sources on . How we check facts.
Industrial scrap, also called new or preconsumer scrap, is metal left over from manufacturing, and it supplies most recycled metal today. USGS reports that U.S. copper recovered from scrap in 2025 was about 760,000 tonnes from new scrap and 160,000 tonnes from old scrap, that 56% of recovered aluminum came from new scrap, and that old scrap supplies none of the gallium that is recycled. Because factory scrap is already counted in supply, it does not reduce a country's dependence on imports the way recycling end-of-life products does.
760,000 t
of U.S. copper recovered from new scrap in 2025, against 160,000 tonnes from old scrap
56%
of the 3.6 million tonnes of aluminum recovered from purchased scrap in the U.S. in 2025 came from new scrap
82,000 t
of U.S. secondary magnesium came from new scrap in 2025, against 26,000 tonnes from old scrap
0
old gallium scrap recycled in the U.S.; only new scrap from GaAs device manufacturing is reprocessed
Which metals are recycled mostly from factory scrap?
The table lists the metals for which USGS documents a new-scrap stream. Shares marked "our arithmetic" are calculated from the tonnages USGS gives.
| Metal | New scrap | Old scrap | What USGS reports |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copper | 760,000 t | 160,000 t | New scrap is about 83% of recovered copper (our arithmetic). Brass and wire-rod mills accounted for about 80% of copper recovered from scrap, and scrap supplied about 30% of U.S. copper. |
| Aluminum | 56% of 3.6 million t | 44% | Aluminum recovered from old scrap equalled about 28% of apparent consumption. |
| Magnesium | 82,000 t | 26,000 t | New scrap is about 76% of secondary magnesium (our arithmetic); aluminum alloys took 53% of the recovered magnesium. |
| Gallium | Substantial | None | New scrap from GaAs-based device manufacturing is reprocessed to high-purity gallium at one facility in New York. |
| Germanium | Much of the metal removed when machining infrared optics | Decommissioned military infrared lenses and windows | Germanium is also recycled from certain wastes of optical fiber manufacturing and from solar cell wafers. Available information was inadequate for reliable estimates. |
| Tantalum | Mostly new scrap from electronic components, cemented carbide and superalloy scrap | Some | May account for as much as 30% of consumption by domestic primary processors. |
| Beryllium | From manufacturing of beryllium products | Some | The leading producer recovers about 40% of the beryllium in new and old alloy scrap; total recycling may be 20% to 25% of consumption. |
| Indium | Indium tin oxide (ITO) scrap, mainly in Japan and the Republic of Korea | Not reported | Scrap is recycled domestically in the U.S.; no quantity is available. |
| Rhenium | Superalloy scrap and scrapped turbine blades and vanes | Spent catalysts | Recycled hydrometallurgically to rhenium metal or processed into "engine revert" by a growing number of companies in Canada, Estonia, France, Germany, Japan, Poland, Russia and the U.S. |
Source: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 chapters on copper, aluminum, magnesium, gallium, germanium, tantalum, beryllium, indium and rhenium.
Why does the difference between new and old scrap matter?
The two scrap types answer different policy questions. New scrap is generated and reprocessed inside the manufacturing chain, so it raises the efficiency of metal use but adds no new supply. Old scrap comes from products that have reached the end of their life and can displace primary material. The EU defines its end-of-life recycling input rate this way: it counts only old scrap, the production of secondary material from post-consumer functional recycling in the EU compared with the EU supply of the raw material. That is why a metal with a thriving factory scrap loop, such as gallium, can show a recycling input rate near zero.
Frequently asked questions
What is industrial scrap?
Industrial scrap, also called new or preconsumer scrap, is metal generated during manufacturing, such as machining swarf, off-cuts and defective parts. USGS counts it separately from old scrap, which comes from discarded products.
How much recycled copper comes from new scrap?
In 2025 about 760,000 tonnes of U.S. copper was recovered from new scrap and about 160,000 tonnes from old scrap, according to USGS. That makes new scrap about 83% of the copper recovered from scrap, which supplied about 30% of U.S. copper.
Is gallium recycled?
Only from new scrap. USGS says there is no old gallium scrap recycled, but substantial new scrap from making GaAs-based devices is reprocessed to high-purity gallium at one facility in New York.
Does factory scrap count toward recycling targets?
It depends on the metric. The EU's end-of-life recycling input rate counts only post-consumer scrap, so factory scrap does not count. USGS reports both kinds of scrap for copper, aluminum and magnesium.
Sources
Read on October 13, 2026. Figures on this page come from these documents; where a number is an estimate, the source says so.
- USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: copper, aluminum and magnesium metal. Aluminum and magnesium chapters at mcs2026-aluminum.pdf and mcs2026-magnesium-metal.pdf
- USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: gallium, germanium and indium. Germanium and indium chapters at mcs2026-germanium.pdf and mcs2026-indium.pdf
- USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: tantalum, beryllium and rhenium. Beryllium and rhenium chapters at mcs2026-beryllium.pdf and mcs2026-rhenium.pdf
- European Commission: Study on the Critical Raw Materials for the EU 2023. Glossary definition of the end-of-life recycling input rate
