Less than one-third of 60 metals studied have end-of-life recycling rate above 50%; 34 are under 1%. Among recommendations: Boost waste management in developing economies,end hoarding of old phones and other electronic products.
Smarter product designs, support for developing country waste management schemes, and encouraging developed country households not to 'squirrel away' old electronic goods in drawers and closets could help boost recycling of metals worldwide. According to a report released today by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), recycling rates of metals are in many cases far lower than their potential for re-use.
Less than one-third of some 60 metals studied have an end-of-life recycling rate above 50 per cent and 34 elements are below 1 per cent recycling, yet many of them are crucial to clean technologies such as batteries for hybrid cars to the magnets in wind turbines, says the study. Recycling rates reported for the 60 elements studied:
More than 50 per cent recycling: 18 elements
1. Lead (main use: batteries)
2. Gold (main uses: jewelry, electronics)
3. Silver (main uses: electronics, industrial applications (catalysts, batteries, glass/mirrors), jewelry);
4. Aluminium (main uses: in construction and transportation)
5. Tin (main uses: cans and solders)
6. Copper (main uses: conducting electricity and heat)
7. Chromium (main use: stainless steels)
8. Nickel (main uses: stainless steels and super-alloys)
9. Niobium (main uses: high strength / low alloy steels and super-alloys)
10. Manganese (main use: steel)
11. Zinc (main uses: coating steel - galvanizing)
12. Iron (the basis and chief constituent of all ferrous metals)
13. Cobalt (main uses: super-alloys, catalysts, batteries)
14. Rhenium (a super-alloy component; main uses: gas turbines (perhaps 60% of use), and catalysts)
15. Titanium (main uses: paint, transportation)
16-18. Palladium, Platinum, Rhodium (main use of all three: auto catalysts)
25 to 50 per cent recycling: 3 elements
1. Magnesium (main uses: construction and transportation)
2. Molybdenum (main uses: high-performance stainless steels)
3. Iridium (main uses: electro-chemistry, crucibles for mono-crystal growing, spark plugs)
10 to 25 per cent recycling: 3 elements
1. Tungsten (main use: carbide cutting tools)
2. Ruthenium (main uses: electronics (hard disk drives), process catalysts / electrochemistry)
3. Cadmium (main uses: batteries (85%), pigments (10%))
1 to 10 per cent recycling: 2 elements
1. Mercury (largely being phased out; main remaining uses: chlorine / caustic soda production)
2. Antimony (main uses: flame retardant (65% of use), lead acid batteries (23%))
Less than 1 per cent recycling: 34 elements
1. Beryllium (main use: electronics)
2. Gallium (main use: electronics: ICs, LEDs, diodes, solar cells
3. Indium (main use: as a coating in flat-panel displays)
4. Selenium (main uses: manufacturing glass, manganese production, LEDs, photovoltaics, infrared optics)
5. Strontium (main uses: pyrotechnics, ferrite ceramic magnets for electronics)
6. Tantalum (main uses: in capacitors in electronics)
7. Germanium (main uses: in night vision (infrared) lenses (30%), PET catalysts (30%), solar cell concentrators, fiber optics)
8. Erbium (main use: fiber-optics)
9. Tellurium (main uses: steel additives, solar cells, thermo-electronics)
10. Hafnium (main uses: in nuclear reactors, and to a small degree in electronics)
11. Zirconium (main use: in nuclear reactors)
12. Thallium (occasional use in medical equipment)
13. Vanadium (main use: high strength-low alloy steels)
14. Arsenic (Arsenic metal is used in semiconductors (electronics, photovoltaics) and as an alloying element; Arsenic oxide is used in wood preservatives and glass manufacture)
15. Barium (main uses: drilling fluid (perhaps 80% of use); as a filler in plastic, paint and rubber (about 20%)
16. Bismuth (principal uses: metallurgical additive and alloy constituent)
17. Lithium (main use: in batteries)
18. Lanthanum (main use: in batteries)
19. Scandium (main uses: in aluminium alloys)
20. Yttrium (main use: as a phosphor)
21. Europium (main use: as a phosphor)
22. Ytterbium (main use: as a phosphor)
23. Lutetium (main use: a scintillator in computerized tomography)
24. Cerium (main use: as a catalyst)
25. Osmium (occasionally used as a catalyst, but has little industrial importance)
26. Thulium (no significant uses)
27. Praseodymium (main use: glass manufacturing and magnets)
28. Gadolinium (main use: in ceramics and magnets)
29. Boron (main uses: in glass, ceramics, magnets)
30-34: Neodymium, Samarium, Terbium, Dysprosium, Holmium (main use for all five: in magnets)
Source: UNEP
Subscribe to:
Post Comments
(
Atom
)
Popular Posts Last Week
-
It's a phenomenon unknown to many, yet it threatens almost half of the world's land. It's called desertification and if left unc...
-
We ontkomen er niet meer aan, de klimaatcrisis. Met z’n alle moeten we groener gaan leven. Ook bedrijven doen er goed aan om duurzaam bezig ...
-
The Google Doodle team stars in an homage to the silent film era's greatest star's 122nd birthday. Full disclosure: none of the must...
-
When it comes to addressing the problems of farmworkers, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. But what we do know is that a cheap food system ...
-
Ieder jaar worden er weer nieuwe elektrische modellen voorgesteld die nog verder kunnen rijden. Dit zijn de tien elektrische auto’s met de g...
-
Anchor Diver is a robot developed by the Hirose Group at Tokyo Institute of Technology, to support underwater searching by the Tokyo Marine ...
-
In the province of Ayutthaya (famous for the rests of the ancient city and for the Historic Park, proclamed as a World Heritage Site by UNES...
-
The John Lautner Foundation is pleased to present the John Lautner Turns 100 series this July 16-November 13, 2011. In celebration of what w...
-
Leuk idee om de aandacht op een bedrijf te vestigen. Wire & Twine maakte een op zich mooi overzicht van 50 manieren waarmee ze u willen ...
Popular Posts This Month
-
New York City's current and former mayors highlight the revitalization of lower Manhattan in the days leading up to the 10th anniversary...
-
National Wildlife Federation Naturalist David Mizejewski explores the relationship between sea ice and polar bears. As continued global warm...
-
In New Orleans: Recovering From a Post-Katrina 'Brain Drain' : News : Breaking : Climate Central
-
Dozens of Gulf Coast residents and oil spill clean-up workers showed up at BP's unified command center downtown to call for action Thurs...
-
In this video interview Miami architect Chad Oppenheim - designer of the stunning green COR Tower for Miami – talks about the changing real...
-
The US space agency has sent an unmanned spacecraft on a five-year journey to Jupiter to gather clues on how the solar system was formed. Na...
-
Around 17 people have been killed in two separate attacks in Norway, shocking the generally peaceful Scandinavian country. A bomb blast expl...
-
Jittery Asian stocks surrender early gains and turn lower Monday, adding to last week's steep losses; gold shoots to new highs amid U.S....
-
Sarah, a sick 54-year old Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey elephant, fell down from a ramp and collapsed while being loaded onto a tra...
Popular Posts All Time
-
National Wildlife Federation Naturalist David Mizejewski explores the relationship between sea ice and polar bears. As continued global warm...
-
New York City's current and former mayors highlight the revitalization of lower Manhattan in the days leading up to the 10th anniversary...
-
Leuk idee om de aandacht op een bedrijf te vestigen. Wire & Twine maakte een op zich mooi overzicht van 50 manieren waarmee ze u willen ...
-
In New Orleans: Recovering From a Post-Katrina 'Brain Drain' : News : Breaking : Climate Central
-
NS en Greenwheels lanceren samen de eerste twee Volkswagen e-Golfs. De elektrische deelauto’s zijn vanaf donderdag 13 september te vinden bi...
-
Hundreds of young people converged on the United Nations in New York today as the General Assembly kicked off a high-level meeting devoted t...
-
At IBM's THINK Forum in NYC, Joshua Cooper Ramo, Managing Director, Kissinger Associates comments on not letting the risks of a networke...
-
Persons with disabilities must enjoy full human rights and fundamental freedoms and enabling them to do so benefits society as a whole, Depu...
-
Bridget van Kralingen, General Manager, IBM North America discusses Making the World Work Better at the IBM THINK Forum
-
Never before has a time in history been so significant to so many cultures, religions, scientists and governments. Beyond 2012 looks past th...
No comments :
Post a Comment