Wheels of Metals: Urban Mining for a Circular Economy

Metals are ubiquitous – they are all around us – andprovide a foundation upon which our economies are built. Economic developmentis deeply coupled with the use of metals. During the 20th century the production has increased exponentially, and the varietyof metal applications in society has grown rapidly. In addition to massapplications such as steel in buildings, copper in wires and aluminium inairplanes, more and more metals are required for innovative technologies suchas the use of rare earth elements in renewable energy systems. 

Worldwide, and in particular in emerging economies,the demand for metals is rapidly increasing. The continued increase in metalsdemand and use over the 20th century has led to substantial social, economicand environmental challenges. Mining activities expand but easily accessibledeposits are becoming scarce. As a result, the supply of critical metals isunder an increasing pressure. This implies recycling, also referred to as “urbanmining”, is of growing importance in generating raw materials. In the end,the only really effective solution to the metals challenge may be to movetowards a circular economy. 

To be able to do that, information is neededon metal stocks in society, their size and residence time, as well as on thetechnologies that are available to recover these metals when the stocks becomeobsolete. This course, based on the reports of the Global Metals Flows WorkingGroup of UNEP’s International Resource Panel (IRP), investigates the nature ofthe metals challenge and the conditions and the consequences of the way out: acircular economy for metals.