JP Morgan is collecting PAPER that claims that they own physical silver. Now they're looking at copper for safety. With all the 'metal theft' that has been going on for years, copper is probably the best long term hedge there is.
Will scrap metals eventually replace precious metals for value? If you read the wiki article under the heading of "UNITED STATES", you'll see that even manhole covers are becoming a scrap commodity. Scrap metals have become such a lucrative commodity, theives will even steal a 3000 pound bell (not as compact as a bar of silver, yet this "scrap metal" will continue to be in short supply because of the needed replacements....long term hedge??).