UN Committee Calls for Increase in Recycling of Specialty Metals

A report by the United Nations’ Environment Committee calls for a significant increase in the recycling of specialty metals such as lithium, neodymium and gallium to keep pace with the growth in clean technologies such as applications for alternative energy sources. The report notes that these metals are key components in items such as wind turbines and photovoltaics for battery packs, as well as other products that the UN notes should see strong growth in the future.

The report, titled Metals Recycling Rates, notes that, despite concern over the scarcity of the material and the fairly high prices, only around one percent of these high-tech metals are recycled, with the rest discarded and thrown away at the end of a product‘s life. Unless recycling of these metals is sharply increased, these metals could become ?essentially unavailable for use in modern technology.

The report was issued by the International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management, which was hosted by the UN Environment Programme.

The final version of the report is expected to be published later in the year.

“Urgent action is now clearly needed to sustainably manage the supplies and flows of these specialty metals given their crucial role in the future health, penetration and competitiveness of a modern high-tech, resource-efficient green economy, says Achim Steiner, the UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director.

“Boosting end-of-life recycling rates not only offers a path to enhancing those supplies and keeping metal prices down, but can also generate new kinds of employment while ensuring the longevity of the mines and the stocks found in nature,” Steiner adds.

The UN also released another final report called Metals in Society. The two reports, presented during a meeting of the UN‘s Commission on Sustainable Development in New York, are part of six being prepared on metals by the Panel.

Key Findings from Metals in Society and Preliminary Ones from Metals Recycling are the following:

•    The amount of steel per person in the United States is now 11- 12 metric tons and in China it is 1.5 metric tons
 
•    World-wide stocks of metals in society have grown such that there is enough copper above ground equal to 50 kilograms per person.
   
•    Since 1932, the amount of copper per person in the United States has grown from 73 kg to close to 240 kg now.
   
•    If this pattern is followed by all countries, the amount of copper and other metals in structures and products would be three to nine times today‘s levels.
   
•    The lifetime of copper in buildings is 25 to 40 years whereas in PCs and mobile phones, the in-service lifetime of the metal is less than five years
   
•    For many technology or specialist metals like indium and rhodium, more than 80 per cent of all such metals ever extracted from natural resources have been mined in just the past three decades
   
•    Global demand for metals like copper and aluminum has doubled in the past 20 years
   
•    Lack of adequate recycling infrastructure for WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) in most parts of the world causes total losses of copper and other valuable metals like gold, silver and palladium.
   
Metal Stocks in Society: Scientific Synthesis can be downloaded at: http://www.unep.fr/scp/publications/details.asp?id=DTI/0000/PA.