In demand

Copper proves to be a hot commodity

By Janine Anderson

Electricians Dan Smith (left) and Rene Oetzman pull old copper wire that will be salvaged. Launched in 2006, Copper for Kids turns scrap copper wire from UW Hospital and Clinics construction projects into thousands of dollars to help build the new American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison. Photo courtesy of UW Health

Copper prices have been on the rise since 2004, making recycling — and theft — lucrative options.

Over the past year, newspapers throughout the state reported stories of thieves’ attempts to get the metal.

In Caledonia, a village north of Racine, a man needed medical treatment after he was shocked while trying to steal copper wire from a We Energies substation, according to court records. He pleaded guilty to charges against him, served several months in jail and had to pay more than $7,000 in restitution, according to court records.

Subdivision developers reported thefts at homes under construction. Thieves tore out drywall to get at pipes and wire and stole materials stockpiled at building sites.

Tim Morgan, vice president and Madison branch manager for Staff Electric Co. Inc., said theft is a big problem on job sites.

“The biggest problem is not once it’s in the conduit,” he said. “If materials are on a job site, we keep it under lock and key or it disappears. It can cost $10,000 to replace a reel [of wire]. Scrapping brings 60 to 70 percent of that.”

Scrapped waste metal is an important part of the construction process, Morgan said. When the metal isn’t claimed by the project’s owners, the crew that tears it out often gets to keep it, he said.

“It’s a bonus for the guys doing the work,” he said. “If it’s a large project, we’ve used it to buy new tools.”

In summer 2006, Staff Electric began work on a project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Interdisciplinary Research Center. The company had to remove 1,600-amp copper feeds to install a new feeder that would supply power to the UW Hospital.

Like many other jobs, the copper would have belonged to Staff Electric, but Jeff Gertgen, electrical trades supervisor for the UW Hospital and Clinics, brought up a different option. He suggested the company donate it to Copper for Kids, a construction-based fund-raiser for the new American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison.

All of the copper recovered on UW Hospital projects was being recycled, and the proceeds were donated to the fund. The IRC job was technically a campus project, but Gertgen thought Staff Electric might be willing to participate.

“I went to the construction manager and said we would donate the copper,” Morgan said. “I was astounded at the value.”

Ultimately, that job netted about $19,700 for the new hospital.

Terry Frink, transportation manager for the UW Hospital and Clinics, said Copper for Kids grew out of a desire to see something more done with all the waste metals hauled off the hospital grounds.

“It was slow at first,” he said. “Everything on every project, people are looking to see if there’s anything for Copper for Kids.”

Since January 2006 the program raised $72,000, including the nearly $20,000 Staff Electric contributed.

Prior to Copper for Kids, the hospital had no policy on how waste metals would be handled, Frink said. Individual contractors made their own decisions about the waste they tore out.

“Some let their employees take it and scrap it, some put it in Dumpsters,” he said. “Companies that let their em-ployees take it, they didn’t want to participate. Now they’ve seen the benefit, and the response is pretty good.”