Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the properties it had in its original state. It is an alternative to "conventional" waste disposal that can save material and help lower greenhouse gas emissions. It can also prevent the waste of potentially useful materials and reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reducing energy use, air pollution and water pollution.
The rare-earth elements (REE), also called the rare-earth metals or rare earths, and sometimes the lanthanides or lanthanoids, are a set of 17 nearly indistinguishable lustrous silvery-white soft heavy metals. Compounds containing rare earths have diverse applications in electrical and electronic components, lasers, glass, magnetic materials, and industrial processes.
A non-renewable resource is a natural resource that cannot be readily replaced by natural means at a pace quick enough to keep up with consumption. An example is carbon-based fossil fuels. The original organic matter, with the aid of heat and pressure, becomes a fuel such as oil or gas. Earth minerals and metal ores, fossil fuels and groundwater in certain aquifers are all considered non-renewable resources, though individual elements are always conserved.
Glass recycling is the processing of waste glass into usable products. Glass that is crushed or imploded and ready to be remelted is called cullet. There are two types of cullet: internal and external. Internal cullet is composed of defective products detected and rejected by a quality control process during the industrial process of glass manufacturing, transition phases of product changes and production offcuts. External cullet is waste glass that has been collected or reprocessed with the purpose of recycling. External cullet is classified as waste. The word "cullet", when used in the context of end-of-waste, will always refer to external cullet.
Urban mining is the recovery of building materials from buildings. This means that materials can be removed from a building in various stages from the point it is deemed that the building is to be removed at end-of-life, or renovated, retrofitted, or remodeled. Without affecting the major structure, equipment, fixtures, furnishings, finishes, and even non-structural components, like windows, doors, and divider walls, can be removed, when permitted, for their value in reuse or recycling or upcycling as raw materials into new products.
Aluminium recycling is the process in which secondary commercial aluminium is created from scrap or other forms of end-of-life or otherwise unusable aluminium. It involves re-melting the metal, which is cheaper and more energy-efficient than the production of virgin aluminium by electrolysis of alumina (Al2O3) refined from raw bauxite by use of the Bayer and Hall–Héroult processes.
Resource refers to all the materials available in our environment which are technologically accessible, economically feasible and culturally sustainable and help us to satisfy our needs and wants. Resources can broadly be classified according to their availability as renewable or national and international resources. An item may become a resource with technology. The benefits of resource utilization may include increased wealth, proper functioning of a system, or enhanced well. From a human perspective, a regular resource is anything to satisfy human needs and wants.
An electric vehicle battery is a rechargeable battery used to power the electric motors of a battery electric vehicle (BEV) or hybrid electric vehicle (HEV).
Natural resource economics deals with the supply, demand, and allocation of the Earth's natural resources. One main objective of natural resource economics is to better understand the role of natural resources in the economy in order to develop more sustainable methods of managing those resources to ensure their availability for future generations. Resource economists study interactions between economic and natural systems, with the goal of developing a sustainable and efficient economy.
A circular economy is a model of resource production and consumption in any economy that involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling existing materials and products for as long as possible. The concept aims to tackle global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution by emphasizing the design-based implementation of the three base principles of the model. The main three principles required for the transformation to a circular economy are: designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems. CE is defined in contradistinction to the traditional linear economy.
The International Resource Panel is a scientific panel of experts that aims to help nations use natural resources sustainably without compromising economic growth and human needs. It provides independent scientific assessments and expert advice on a variety of areas, including:
Energy Transition Minerals Ltd is an ASX-listed company focused on the exploration, development and financing of minerals that are critical to a low carbon future. The company’s current projects include the Kvanefjeld, located in Greenland, Villasrubias, located in Spain, and two Lithium projects located in the James Bay region in Canada.
The European Association of Mining Industries, Metal Ores & Industrial Minerals (Euromines) was founded in 1996 to represent several national mining associations mainly from Western Europe. Today the association is the recognized representative of the European metals and minerals mining industry and represents 19 national European federations and 28 companies as direct members from the whole Europe. Altogether large and small member companies and their subsidiaries in Europe and in other parts of the world provide jobs to more than 350,000 people. Through the activities and operations of these members, more than 42 different metals and minerals are produced. For some metals and minerals, Europe is the world's leading producer.
The World Resources Forum (WRF) is a non-profit organisation for sharing knowledge about the economic, political, social and environmental implications of global resource use. WRF promotes resource productivity among researchers, policymakers, business, NGOs and the public. In addition to organizing international and regional conferences, the WRF Secretariat coordinates multistakeholder dialogue projects, amongst others the Sustainable Recycling Initiative (SRI) as well as the H2020 projects Towards a World Forum on Raw Materials (FORAM), and CEWASTE. The WRF contributes to other EC-projects and projects with the German development organisation GiZ, UNEP and UNIDO.
Huayou Cobalt Co., Ltd primarily operates as a supplier of cobalt and its associated products, such as cobalt tetroxide, cobalt oxide, cobalt carbonate, cobalt hydroxide, cobalt oxalate, cobalt sulfate, and cobalt monoxide. The company is headquartered in the Tongxiang Economic Development Zone of Zhejiang, China.
A technology-critical element (TCE) is a chemical element that is a critical raw material for modern and emerging technologies, resulting in a striking increase in their usage. Similar terms include critical elements, critical materials, energy-critical elements and elements of security.
The European Battery Alliance (EBA) is Europe's plan to create its own competitive and sustainable battery cell manufacturing value chain. Its purpose is to ensure that Europe benefits from the technological evolution in the Electric Vehicle Market and beyond. The action plan includes cleaner and more sustainable vehicles as well as safer traffic operations across Europe.
REPowerEU is a European Commission proposal to end reliance on Russian fossil fuels before 2030 in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The electric vehicle supply chain comprises the mining and refining of raw materials and the manufacturing processes that produce batteries and other components for electric vehicles.
Governments designate critical raw materials (CRM) as critical for their economies so there is no single list of such raw materials as the list varies from country to country as does the definition of critical. They include technology-critical elements, rare-earth elements and strategic materials.
