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Copper is a valuable metal, it's worth around 10% of the price of Gold. It is by far the most valuable waste generated within the prison estate.
Every prison generates waste Copper, but the majority of it is lost amongst other recycling processes. The majority of Copper in prison is in wiring. Everything from kettle leads to power cables from roof lights.
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Whilst there is a small value for this wiring with its plastic outer still in place, that value is very low and often lost by the cost of transporting it.
The plastic outer needs to be stripped off. Many prisons already have basic Manual Wire Strippers. These can be very basic where a prisoner feeds the wire through the the jig using a hand wheel; this can be very good work for less able prisoners. 
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There are a few prisons who have larger Industrial Wire Strippers which if serviced could form part of the second phase of this new opportunity, but more of that when we get the first phase correct.

So, here is the plan...

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When Copper wire is stripped, bulked up and cast into ingots or granulated into tiny pieces, it is worth around £6,500 per tonne

[price correct at time page designed July 2025]

I'm afraid Fletcher can't get you that, but we can get you £2,600 per tonne, here's how....

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Sort and Segregate as much electrical wire as possible, ask other departments if they have any, ask your FM if they or any of their external contractors have left any electrical wire.
Shred the plastic outer off all the wire. Collect all the shredded Copper wire in a container [also, keep all the plastic outer you have stripped off, that can be recycled separately]
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This next bit is just to prove the concept..

Weigh 10kgs of Copper Wire
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'Squash' it tightly into a box. Let us know when you have a box ready.
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We will send you a link allowing you to print a pre-paid label.
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Place the box inside your gate, we will instruct the courier to collect.
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When we receive the box, we will confirm the weight.
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 We will send you a Purchase Order for you to raise an O2C14

So, what do you get?

During this trial period, you will be sending us 10kg boxes of stripped Copper Wire. We will pay you £2,600 per tonne, for 10kg, you will receive £26.00.

To put that into perspective, that's how much you receive from two-thirds of a tonne of cardboard

There are absolutely no costs to you,
It will provide some meaningful work for your prisoners.

What happens after this trial?

To be open and honest, this can go as far as we want it to. We could easily get to the stage where you would fill an IBC or Pallet Crate full of Copper Wire and have it collected as part of the Fletcher Cluster Collection Scheme.

Fletcher will be looking for external waste or electric companies to give/sell us there un-stripped electrical wire. Prisons local to that could set up dedicated Copper Wire Workshops.

But let's get this trial started and monitored.

If you would like to take part in this trial, just click the button below which opens up an email addressed to us. If you want to add any comments or thoughts on the trial, please feel free to write them in the email.
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