| Title | Losses and lifetimes of metals in the economy |
|---|---|
| ID_Doc | 25523 |
| Authors | Poncelet, AC; Helbig, C; Loubet, P; Beylot, A; Muller, S; Villeneuve, J; Laratte, B; Thorenz, A; Tuma, A; Sonnemann, G |
| Title | Losses and lifetimes of metals in the economy |
| Year | 2022 |
| Published | Nature Sustainability, 5, 8 |
| Abstract | The consumption of most metals continues to rise following ever-increasing population growth, affluence and technological development. Sustainability considerations urge greater resource efficiency and retention of metals in the economy. We model the fate of a yearly cohort of 61 extracted metals over time and identify where losses are expected to occur through a life-cycle lens. We find that ferrous metals have the longest lifetimes, with 150 years on average, followed by precious, non-ferrous and specialty metals with 61, 50 and 12 years on average, respectively. Production losses are the largest for 15 of the studied metals whereas use losses are the largest for barium, mercury and strontium. Losses to waste management and recycling are the largest for 43 metals, suggesting the need to improve design for better sorting and recycling and to ensure longer-lasting products, in combination with improving waste-management practices. Compared with the United Nations Environmental Programme's recycling statistics, our results show the importance of taking a life-cycle perspective to estimate losses of metals to develop effective circular economy strategies. We provide the dataset and model used in a machine-readable format to allow further research on metal cycles. The increasing demand for technological products across the world pushes further the consumption of most metals, resulting in growing sustainability concerns. This study examines a yearly cohort of 61 extracted metals over time and estimates their lifetimes and losses throughout their life cycles. |
Similar Articles
| ID | Score | Article |
|---|---|---|
24678
|
Watari, T; Nansai, K; Nakajima, K Major metals demand, supply, and environmental impacts to 2100: A critical review(2021) | |
| 24527
|
Wang, P; Li, W; Kara, S Dynamic life cycle quantification of metallic elements and their circularity, efficiency, and leakages(2018) | |
| 19928
|
Li, FQ; Wang, P; Chen, W; Chen, WQ; Wen, BJ; Dai, T Exploring recycling potential of rare, scarce, and scattered metals: Present status and future directions(2022) | |
| 20065
|
Helbig, C; Kondo, Y; Nakamura, S Simultaneously tracing the fate of seven metals at a global level with MaTrace-multi(2022)Journal Of Industrial Ecology, 26, 3 | |
| 18418
|
Schäfer, P; Schmidt, M Discrete-Point Analysis of the Energy Demand of Primary versus Secondary Metal Production(2020)Environmental Science & Technology, 54.0, 1 | |
| 12570
|
Van der Voet, E; Van Oers, L; Verboon, M; Kuipers, K Environmental Implications of Future Demand Scenarios for Metals: Methodology and Application to the Case of Seven Major Metals(2019)Journal Of Industrial Ecology, 23.0, 1 | |
| 23758
|
Golev, A; Corder, GD Typology of Options for Metal Recycling: Australia's Perspective(2016)Resources-Basel, 5, 1 | |
| 2924
|
Born, K; Ciftci, MM The limitations of end-of-life copper recycling and its implications for the circular economy of metals(2024) | |
| 23894
|
Golev, A; Corder, G Modelling metal flows in the Australian economy(2016) | |
| 26205
|
Nakamura, S; Kondo, Y; Nakajima, K; Ohno, H; Pauliuk, S Quantifying Recycling and Losses of Cr and Ni in Steel Throughout Multiple Life Cycles Using MaTrace-Alloy(2017)Environmental Science & Technology, 51, 17 |