Copper is something that has been important to humans for thousands of years – since the bronze age, our ancestors began using copper to improve their lives and made things from crockery to weapons with the mixture of copper and tin – called bronze, which heralded the bronze age. As well as being useful to us in a practical way copper is also essential for the human body to function correctly and an important contributor in cell health, however too much of it can be toxic.
Nowadays we still rely on the use of copper as much as our bronze age ancestors once did – not only is it in our bodies, but our buildings and infrastructure are reliant on the use of copper. As it is a great conductor of both heat and electricity, it is used in electrical systems of all different kinds. It is also essential to other parts of general construction and plumbing, such as this Watkins and Powis Copper Pipe.
The high value of copper and the fact that demand for it is outstripping supply means that its value is only going up – and unfortunately this has led to an increasing amount of metal theft, as opportunist thieves realise, they can make some quick money with stolen copper.
This can cause all sorts of problems as the copper is stolen from places like railways and sub stations – something that is dangerous as well as illegal. Many people and companies have had to take measures to protect any copper that they have on their premises.