Abstract
While Australia has traditionally relied on obtaining metals from primary sources (namely mined natural resources), there is significant potential to recover metals from end-of-life-products and industrial waste. Although any metals recycling value chain requires a feasible technology at its core, many other non-technical factors are key links in the chain, which can compromise the overall viability to recycle a commodity and/or product. The “Wealth from Waste” Cluster project funded by the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Flagship Collaboration Fund and partner universities is focusing on identifying viable options to “mine” metals contained in discarded urban infrastructure, manufactured products and consumer goods. A key aspect of this research is to understand the critical non-technical barriers and system opportunities to enhance rates of metals recycling in Australia. Work to date has estimated the mass and current worth of metals in above ground resources. Using these outcomes as a basis, a typology for different options for (metal) reuse and recycling has been developed to classify the common features, which is presented in this article. In addition, the authors investigate the barriers and enablers in the recycling value chain, and propose a set of requirements for a feasible pathway to close the material loop for metals in Australia.
Highlights
Australia remains a strong net exporter of a wide range of mineral commodities, and especially metallic minerals
At the same time, being among the most developed countries in the world and allowing for higher level of resources consumption, Australia generates a significant amount of waste materials per capita [2], which could provide the economy with the secondary resources and partially offset the need for virgin raw materials
Many of the issues regarding recycling are dependent on contextual circumstances and environments, such as geography, population density, social norms, infrastructure systems, regulations, etc., within the country or region in question. For this reason in this article, we have focused our efforts on identifying the distinctive features and characteristics pertinent to Australia for metals recycling
Summary
Australia remains a strong net exporter of a wide range of mineral commodities, and especially metallic minerals. The overall this article is to demonstrate that there is athat need for a moreasystematic To achieve this aim,aim theofarticle presents a guiding framework comprises new classification categorization the possible recycling value chains which a sufficient level of of understanding of metals recycling forofend-of-life (EoL) products and an enable associated typology different options to of the barriers and enablers to access a larger alternative source of metals through the processes of help select the feasible pathways for (metal) reuse and recycling of the more problematic waste streams “urban mining” which will result in higher levels of metals recycling in the Australian context. The recovery of materials into new products (maintaining the original quality of recycled materials) can be characterised as a true circular use of resources While this may be desirable to occur within one country, it is mainly achievable at the global scale due to the fact that many products are imported from overseas, and not all recovered materials/metals may be needed for domestic production. There are strong economic and environmental benefits for promoting the cyclical use of resources via cycling ( referred to as high-grade recycling) and upcycling versus downcycling, but this distinction is rarely highlighted in the regulation and underrepresented in the academic literature
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