As a supplier of Lindab guttering we had to go through the pros and cons of using steel vs aluminium vs copper vs plastic. This is a complicated route to follow as they all have different characteristics that can be hard to compare.
There are all the issues of: longevity; embodied energy; availability of resources; recycled content; recyclability; cost; ease of installation; robustness; manufacturing base; stability of the product; noise, etc.
To put the case for each:
Steel (Lindab)
PLUSES – recyclable, recycled content, stable, long lasting, abundant resource, easy to install, very robust, European manufacturing base, cost
MINUSES – noise, embodied energy of steel
Aluminium
PLUSES – recyclable, recycled content, stable, long lasting, abundant
resource, easy to install, very robust, UK manufacturing base,
cost
MINUSES – embodied energy of aluminium (one of the highest), cost, attractive to crime
Copper
PLUSES – recyclable, recycled content, stable, long lasting, easy to install, very robust, European manufacturing base
MINUSES – very high embodied energy of copper, limited resources, very expensive, very attractive to crime
Plastic
PLUSES – recyclable, European manufacturing base,
cost
MINUSES – low recycled content, not stable, short lived, fiddly to install, weak, high embodied energy of plastic, poor design
CONCLUSION
The metals are by far the better materials, but aluminium and copper are very expensive (and hence attractive to criminals) and steel does the same job. The plastics are awful and should never be used for such an important job, so we would recommend using Lindab. They have also done their eco-footprint calcs and it is very favourable.
