There’s a looming copper shortage. This South Carolina startup wants to mine it from waste instead of ore

# The Copper Problem Getting Solved at Home We're going to need a lot more copper in the coming years—especially for electric cars and data centers—but mining it from the ground is getting harder and more expensive. A South Carolina startup called Red Metals is tackling this by recovering copper from old electronics and scrap instead, which would be cheaper and faster than traditional mining. Right now most of this valuable scrap either gets wasted or sent overseas to be processed, so bringing the recycling back to the U.S. could help solve both the shortage and create a more efficient supply chain.