metals
Newsletter
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Recycling critical metals from electronics could ease mining impacts
Recycling e-waste offers a vital alternative to mining for metals needed for green technologies, reducing environmental damage.
In short:
- The latest Global E-Waste Monitor highlights the vast quantities of metals like copper and aluminum in discarded electronics, with only a fraction currently recycled.
- Essential for low-carbon technologies, these metals could significantly offset the demand currently met through environmentally damaging mining.
- Improved recycling technologies and policies are crucial for increasing the recovery of rare and valuable metals from e-waste.
Key quote:
“There is very little reporting on the recovery of metals [from e-waste] globally. We felt that it was our duty to get more facts on the table.”
— Kees Baldé, lead report author
Why this matters:
Metals like copper and aluminum, when improperly disposed of, can leach into soil and water, potentially harming wildlife and impacting human health through the food and water supply. Recycling e-waste can mitigate these risks. By recovering metals like copper and aluminum from old electronics, we not only reduce the environmental harm but also decrease the need to extract raw materials, which often involves ecologically and socially harmful mining practices.
In 2021, electronic waste from outweighed the Great Wall of China.
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Credit: Ant Rozetsky/Unsplash
A guide to greening heavy industries steps into the spotlight
A new book offers insights into transitioning heavy industry toward near-zero emissions, amid a push for cleaner manufacturing processes supported by the Biden administration.
In short:
- Jeffrey Rissman's book, Zero-Carbon Industry, highlights actionable strategies for industries like steel, concrete, and chemicals to drastically reduce their climate impact.
- The Biden administration backs these initiatives with significant funding, aiming to modernize production methods across 33 companies for a greener future.
- Rissman emphasizes the importance of informed policies and technology adoption in achieving substantial emission reductions in the industrial sector.
Key quote:
“Policymakers didn’t fully understand, ‘What is the industry sector?’ ‘What are the processes they use to create products?’”
— Jeffrey Rissman, Energy Innovation
Why this matters:
These initiatives represent a comprehensive overhaul of heavy industry, involving cutting-edge technologies, renewable energy sources, and innovative manufacturing processes. The goal is ambitious but clear: drastically reduce the carbon footprint of industries like steel, cement, and chemicals, which are crucial for modern life but significantly harmful to our planet.
Related: Cleaner steelmaking can’t come fast enough for this Northern Ontario city
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Photo by Hrant Khachatryan on Unsplash
In rush for key metals, Canada ushers miners to its fragile north
Canada is offering incentives to mining companies to dig in its northern regions for the critical minerals needed for EVs and solar panels. But based on past abuses, critics fear carbon-rich peatlands will be lost, wild rivers polluted, and enormous cleanup projects left behind.
Newsletter
Russia’s war in Ukraine reveals a risk for the EV future: Price shocks in precious metals
Russia’s war on Ukraine has roiled global commodities markets—including those for nickel and other metals used in EV batteries—and laid bare how vulnerable the world is to price shocks in the metals essential to the EV future.
Could Russian sanctions hobble U.S. clean energy push?
Russia is a major producer of copper, nickel and other minerals vital for the energy transition. Experts say that could have an effect on U.S. sanctions.
Photo by Martin Katler on Unsplash
Albemarle to boost Nevada lithium output as electric vehicle demand climbs
Albemarle Corp said on Thursday it will double production at its lithium facility in Silver Peak, Nevada, part of a plan to boost supply for the burgeoning electric vehicle market.
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
Russia's Nornickel says it will spend $600 million collecting Soviet-era Arctic waste
Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel, hit by a fuel spill at an Arctic power station in May, will spend $600 million by 2030 collecting Soviet-era waste around its Arctic sites.
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