Metal refining refined technology over the centuries has been a mature technology, smelting of copper to pyrometallurgical smelting, the amount of about 85% of the world's total copper. Due to the gradual depletion of natural products, global environmental awareness and rising ore mining costs have prompted the international large-scale copper smelting to actively develop secondary copper resources (e-waste recovery smelting technology, extraction of copper from industrial waste and high added value Expensive metals, and competing in the international market to collect recycled secondary copper resources.

Taiwan is not as good as Chile, the United States, Peru and other mineral big countries, but due to the high-tech electronics industry has developed a large number of waste metal resources, accounting for the use of electronic products industry accounted for the use of metal resources production ratio, copper station 28% , While the scrap wire and cable in 1999 to declare as much as 31,470 tons, mainly for domestic recycling. The recovery of home appliances, the highest amount of copper for the waste refrigerator, a refrigerator copper content is more than equal to a one dollar coin copper.