Demands on the electronics industry in sustainable use of metal resources

Abstract

Through innovations in product development we have to achieve a sustainable use of natural resources and to bring down the impact on the external environment to a level that the Earth's eco-systems can cope with. This paper will investigate just how much the manufacturing industry will have to reduce the use of nonrenewable metal resources in a sustainable way from now until the year 2050, if we are to provide material wealth to an ever growing world population with an ever growing demand for wealth. Given this development, the future demand for reductions in the use of the metals copper, tin and silver by industry is projected forward to the year 2050. Further, the role of recycling in preserving the pool of a resource in use is emphasized. By varying the recycling rate, pool dynamics for copper, tin and silver are projected also forward to the year 2050. Conclusions about the role of recycling are made. The paper goes on to investigate feasible courses of action, including trends in product design, and the needed technological development in the recovery industry is discussed.