Modelling and analysis of international recycling between developed and developing countries

To deal with the complexity of recycling, a wide variety of models have been developed, each serving a specific purpose. Despite the current trend increasing international trade in recycling-related material flows, the international dimension of physical and economic relationships in recycling is often ignored in current models and analyses. This paper develops a formal model of an international material-product chain (MPC) that represents the mechanism behind international recycling. The attention is focused on the case of a developed and a developing country that exchange material commodities, final products and recyclable waste. Among others, the model demonstrates that taking into account environmental externalities results in higher levels of recycling. Moreover, we show that international recycling is mainly driven by regional differences in the quantity and quality of factor endowments and economic efficiency of recycling. Given that industrialised countries are relatively well endowed with recyclable waste, the recovery rate usually exceeds the utilisation rate. In developing countries, an opposite pattern is observed.     

Dynamic material flow analysis of steel resources in Korea

Material flow analysis (MFA) is an evaluation technique that systematically identifies the flows and stocks of materials within predefined spatial and temporal boundaries. In this paper, the steel resources in Korea are investigated using dynamic MFA. Iron ore and steel scrap are added as raw material components during the production processes of steel, which is then used in a variety of product groups such as construction products, transportation equipment, machinery/metal products, electrical/electronic devices, and other products through fabrication and manufacturing processes. When such product groups are discarded, they are either recycled or landfilled. With consideration for the lifetimes of various product groups in conjunction with steel resource flows in Korea, dynamic MFA is conducted on the flows of steel stock change and annual scrap generation. By 2020, these two flows are expected to increase by as much as 40% and 30%, respectively, compared to 2008, with transportation equipment, in particular, envisaged to experience high growth. At the current recycling rate, however, it will be hard to meet future scrap demand. According to the scenario analysis, 100% of this future scrap demand can be supplied domestically if the recycling rate is increased to over 70% for all product groups, except construction products and transportation equipment, which already have high recycling rates. By 2020, the reduction in scrap importation costs is projected to offer a financial gain of 2.3 billion dollars.     

Examining the technology acceptance for dismantling of waste printed circuit boards in light of recycling and environmental concerns

The dismantling of printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs) and the recovery of their useful materials can lead to serious environmental impacts mainly due to their complicated physical structure and the variety of toxic elements contained in their material composition. So far, less attention has been paid to their responsible recycling compared to that of bare printed circuit boards. Combined with other materials recovery process, proper dismantling of PCBAs is beneficial to conserve scarce resources, reuse the components, and eliminate or safely dispose of hazardous materials. In analyzing the generation, resources potential and hazardous risk of scrap PCBAs, technologies used for the dismantling of waste PCBAs have been widely investigated and reviewed from the aspects of both industrial application and laboratory-scale studies. In addition, the feasibility of PCBA dismantling has been discussed, the determinants of which, including the heating conditions and mechanical properties have been identified. Moreover, this paper evaluates the environmental consequences caused by the dismantling of PCBAs.     

Two Paths to Industrial Ecology: Applying the Product-based and Geographical Approaches

The development of the practical side of the concept of industrial ecology has taken two different but interrelated paths during the last two decades: the product-based systems perspective; and the geographically defined local-regional industrial ecosystem approach. Both approaches focus on material and energy flows aiming at reducing the industrial system's virgin resource use and waste and emission outputs. The ideal has arisen to mimic the model of a sustainable natural ecosystem, which relies solely on solar energy as the input and creates cyclical flows of materials (and related energy cascades) between organisms and in the food chain. It is argued in the industrial ecology literature that wastes, as defined in human industrial system terms, are non-existent in the natural recycling system. In this paper, an application of the product-based systems approach is given with paper life cycles and a basic life cycle inventory model. An application to the regional approach is presented in the regional energy supply system of the city of Jyväskylä in Finland. The paper aims at discussing the two approaches in industrial ecology and considers their contradictory characteristics as well as their similarities. When the basic vision and the overriding goal is the local industrial ecosystem, the product-based approach can serve as an inventory tool to support the project. In this situation, the two approaches would seem to be each other's complement. When the two approaches are adopted as each other's substitute, they may support conflicting decisions for environmental policy and management. This may create difficulties in the implementation of industrial ecology. On the basis of both of the approaches to industrial ecology, the external environment of an organization is considered to comprise the societal material and energy flow environment and the natural material and energy flow environment .     

Spatial cost efficiency in waste paper handling: the case of corrugated board in Sweden

This paper analyzes the spatial cost efficiency of the Swedish legislation regarding waste disposal handling. We focus on the case of corrugated board and recognize that the different counties in Sweden possess different economic prerequisites in terms of waste paper recovery and utilization potential. We employ data for six corrugated board mills and 20 counties and a non-linear programming model to identify the least cost strategy for reaching the politically specified recycling target of a 65% recovery rate for corrugated board. That is, the total costs of recovering a minimum of 65% in each county are calculated and compared with the case when the country as a whole recovers 65% of all old corrugated board is collected but there exist no uniform target for each county. The conclusion is that from an efficiency point of view the recovery efforts should be concentrated to the highly populated and urbanized counties, and not be uniformly divided throughout the country. In the base case, the results suggest that the cost efficient county-specific recovery rates should range from 51 to 72%.     

Reverse logistics in the Brazilian construction industry

In Brazil most Construction and Demolition Waste (C&D waste) is not recycled. This situation is expected to change significantly, since new federal regulations oblige municipalities to create and implement sustainable C&D waste management plans which assign an important role to recycling activities. The recycling organizational network and its flows and components are fundamental to C&D waste recycling feasibility. Organizational networks, flows and components involve reverse logistics. The aim of this work is to introduce the concepts of reverse logistics and reverse distribution channel networks and to study the Brazilian C&D waste case.     

Market imperfections in recycling markets: conceptual issues and empirical study of price volatility in plastics

The effectiveness of recycling depends upon efficient functioning of secondary material markets. This paper focus on the role that price volatility can play in slowing investment and market development. However, a statistical analysis of the relative volatility of secondary and primary material prices does not confirm the widely-held belief that relative price volatility is higher in secondary than in primary materials, at least at national levels.An econometric estimation of the determinants of plastic recovery volumes in Seattle contributes to the literature in four ways: the use of monthly (as opposed to annual) data; the use of local (as opposed to national) data; the use of an explanatory variable to reflect price volatility; and, the focus on plastics, which have not been examined previously. Some tentative conclusions can be made: the results generally support the principal hypothesis that price volatility has a negative effect on recovery of secondary materials; in addition, and consistent with previous studies, price elasticities are low and insignificant; and finally, policy factors are clearly important. The concluding section treats the economic and policy implications of market inefficiency in secondary material markets.     

Understanding the normalisation of recycling behaviour and its implications for other pro-environmental behaviours: A review of social norms and recycling

This paper examines our understanding of recycling behaviour in the context of its increasing normalisation in the UK. It reflects on the recent history of dry recycling (i.e. recycling of ‘dry’ materials such as paper, glass, plastics and cans) and asks the question as to what influence policy drivers and the increased provision of facilities for recycling have had on people's behaviour. In reviewing the evidence for recycling being considered a norm, this paper explores what influence norms, habit and identities have on recycling behaviour.It then considers what lessons the evidence offers for using the normalisation of recycling behaviour in influencing more people to recycle and to adopt other sustainable behaviours. The somewhat contentious issue of whether engaging in recycling behaviours has a positive or negative effect on people engaging with other pro-environmental behaviours is discussed. The evidence shows that both positive and negative spillover occurs and understanding where the balance lies, as well as what effect recycling being a norm plays in this, is important in determining appropriate interventions to influence pro-environmental behaviours. The paper concludes with some observations on implications of the evidence on intervention approaches to influence pro-environmental behaviours.     

废印刷线路板处置和非金属回收利用研究进展

废印刷线路板的资源化处置一直是电子废弃物处理的热点和难点,目前有多种方法已经投入应用或者在研究阶段,这些方法在分离效率、回收率、操作简单性、本身环境友好性、有无二次污染等方面有不同的优缺点。目前主流的广泛采用的方法是分步处理,破碎后利用物理方法进行分选,得到的金属和非金属组分再分别进行进一步的回收利用。本文对近年来废印刷线路板的总体处置技术和物理分选后非金属的回收利用的研究进行了总结,并对将来的研究方向进行了展望,为废印刷线路板资源化再利用产业化发展提供参考。     

Circulation indices: new tools for analyzing the structure of material cascades

An improved understanding of the cascading structure of recycling is important for increasing resource productivity. The cascading theory, developed to analyze resource cascading, has two major dimensions; resource quality and resource lifetime. The latter is the only dimension for which a quantitative evaluation has been carried out in the previous research. In this study, we propose new tools to quantify both dimensions. These tools enable statistical estimation of the times of utilization of the material cascaded. The pre-circulation index (pre-CI) counts how many times the material has been utilized before consumption. For material in which quality deterioration is measurable largely on the basis of the number of utilization times, pre-CI can be an index of resource quality. The post-circulation index (post-CI) counts how many times the material will be utilized after consumption. The higher the number of utilization times, the longer the lifetime of the material. Thus, post-CI can be an index of resource lifetime. Total-circulation index (TCI) is the sum of pre- and post-CIs. This can be an overall index of resource productivity. We apply the method presented herein to an analysis of the paper recycling system in Japan. Some important features of the CIs are demonstrated by the results; certain potential remains for further improvements in paper recycling in Japan. In the case that two products have the same utilization rates, their pre-CIs can still differ according to the positions they occupy in the cascade. In the case that two recycling policies achieve the same size of primary raw material reduction, they can still differ in their impact to the whole cascade. By the method described herein, the CIs can represent the structure of a material cascade quantitatively and offer important knowledge by which to increase resource productivity.     

Emerging market patterns in the recycled paper trade

The international recovered paper trade serves two important functions: increasing raw material availability in the paper and board industry and providing economic incentives to recycle. The purpose of this paper is to shed further light on emerging patterns in this trade by empirically analysing the changes in the bilateral trade flows of recycled paper between 1992 and 2008. According to our estimations, two important changes occurred in the 1990s and 2000s. First, the growing importance of developing economies in global recycled paper trade plays a significant role in import demand as a determinant of trade flows. Second, the changes in global trade patterns necessitate investigating the transportation cost measures used in applied research.     

Facilitating substance phase‐out through material information systems and improving environmental impacts in the recycling stage of a product

The amount of electrical and electronic products is increasing rapidly, and this inevitably leads to the generation of large quantities of waste from these goods. Some of the generated e‐waste ends up in regions with sub‐standard recycling systems and may be processed under poor conditions. During uncontrolled incineration, halogenated dioxins and furans can be generated from brominated and chlorinated compounds in the products. In order to reduce the health and environmental risks involved in the recycling stage of the life cycle of electronics, an effective design‐for‐environment process must be established during the product development phase. Knowledge of the chemical substances in the product is crucial to being able to make informed decisions. Through full knowledge of the material content of procured components, phase‐outs of unwanted substances, such as halogenated substances, can be performed in an effective manner. Therefore, information is the key to success in phasing‐out substances; facilitating compliance of legal provisions for manufacturers of electrical and electronic devices; and improving the environmental footprint of products as they reach the end of the life cycle. After an introduction to the challenges of electronics waste management, this paper describes supply chain information systems and how they are used to facilitate substance phase‐outs in the electronics industry. Sony Ericsson has been working with phase‐outs of unwanted substances since it was founded in 2001. Through the introduction of a material declaration system that keeps track of all substances in the components used in the company's products, Sony Ericsson has been able to replace unwanted substances to improve environmental impacts at the recycling stage of a product.     

The influence of adhesives on recycling

The finiteness of many resources made it necessary to think about how to save them by developing resource-saving technologies, e.g. to recycle materials. To execute the idea of recycling, it is necessary to think about a material recycling of the used products when designing them. This means that all additives of the process have to be designed in the way they do not disturb the later material recycling. Today, adhesives play a decisive role in the production of almost every good, especially for mass-produced articles and therefore it is important to choose adhesives that do not disturb the recycling of the primary materials. In recycling processes which take place at high temperatures (e.g. glass or metal recycling), the influence of the adhesives usually formed by organic polymers can be ignored. In the field of low temperature recycling technologies, the question whether an adhesive is recycling-friendly or not can only be answered by knowing its application and the recycling process. If the recycling processes are known, it is easy to chose suitable adhesives. For plastic and paper recycling, there are a lot of adhesives today that fulfill the requirements of recyclers. In order to simplify recycling for the future, adhesives with “switches enclosed” are being developed which will allow us to disbond system components into separate parts after use for reuse or material recycling.     

The contemporary European silver cycle

This paper examines the 1-year anthropogenic stocks and flows of silver as it progresses from extraction to final disposal on the European continent. The primary flows of silver include production, fabrication and manufacturing, use, and waste management. A substance flow analysis (SFA) was used to trace the flows and inventory data, and mass balance equations were used to determine the quantity of flows. The results reveal that Europe has a low level of silver mine production (1580 Mg Ag/year) and instead relies on silver imports and the recycling of scrap in production and fabrication. In the year 1997, Europe imported 1160 Mg Ag of ore concentrate and 2010 Mg Ag of refined silver, and recycled 2750 Mg Ag of new and old scrap. There is a net addition of 3320 Mg Ag/year into silver reservoirs at the use stage. This is the result of a greater amount of silver entering the system from manufacturing than is leaving the system into waste management. The waste flow with the highest content of silver is municipal solid waste, which contains 1180 Mg Ag/year. In total, 62% of all discarded silver is recycled and 38% is sent to landfills. The results of this study and other element and material flow analyses can help guide resource managers, environmental policy makers, and environmental scientists in their efforts to increase material recovery and recycling, address resource sustainability, and ameliorate environmental problems.     

Air emissions from pavement layers composed of varying rates of reclaimed asphalt

An experimental study of road building and recycling of used pavement has been conducted within the framework of a Life Cycle Analysis. Four equivalent asphalt concretes made with different recycling rates have been investigated during road construction. Airborne emissions, pollutant release over time and odor production related to asphalt laying have all been determined and compared among the various recycling rates. All of the results (VOC, PAH and odors), expressed in terms of concentrations and fluxes, exhibit quite monotonic variations with respect to the recycling rate. These results, however, did not reveal the same trend as a function of the recycling rate (increases or decreases), depending on the selected target parameter (VOC or PAH). Indicators have been proposed for a discussion of results that take into account: (i) raw material emissions with respect to the reference defined in the case of pavement without reclaimed asphalt; and (ii) emissions in each case from all material production sources.     

Evaluation of recycling efforts of aircraft companies in Wichita

The number of manufactured aircraft has been continuously increasing worldwide because of the high demand for airline transportation. During manufacturing, many advanced materials and devices are used to build various sizes and shapes of aircraft. However, most of these materials and devices require considerable energy and labor to produce, so reusing these at any life stage of the aircraft offers many economic and environmental benefits, and is considered lucrative and environmentally responsible. Several recyclable materials—composites, metals and alloys, wires, wood, paper, plastics, electronics, and avionics—emerge as waste streams during the manufacturing of aircraft. Many aircraft companies have been recycling these materials to remanufacture aircraft parts or other products for more sustainable production. In the present study, we evaluated the recycling efforts of local aircraft companies in Wichita, KS. These efforts were considered in terms of recycling efficiency/rate and environmental benefits. These included cradle-to-gate (CTG) life-cycle inventory analysis of the materials, carbon dioxide emissions, virgin material replacement with recycled materials, and natural resources usage. Our findings show that there exists a significant potential for contributions to sustainability as well as environmental and health benefits in the region from recycling by aircraft manufacturing plants.     

Two decades,three WEEE systems: How far did EPR evolve in Korea's resource circulation policy?

Extended producer responsibility (EPR) has become a dominant policy paradigm for the management of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in the last two decades. In South Korea the principle has guided the evolution of the resource circulation policy even before its official introduction through a revision of the recycling law in 2002. Elements of producer responsibilities could be found in the producer-based deposit refund system (DRS) a decade earlier and they were strengthened through the enactment of a new resource circulation law in 2008. This article reviews the policy changes in South Korea for the management of WEEE during the past 20 years. The focus of the analysis is on the impacts of EPR and the producers’ responses that were expressed through the quantity and the quality of material flows in the society. The findings are discussed in light of international experiences in order to outline measures to improve the effectiveness of the EPR-based resource circulation policy that could have broader implications beyond the case study.     

Environmental consequences of recycling aluminum old scrap in a global market

Nowadays, aluminum scrap is traded globally. This has increased the need to analyze the flows of aluminum scrap, as well as to determine the environmental consequences from aluminum recycling. The objective of this work is to determine the greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions of the old scrap collected and sorted for recycling, considering the market interactions. The study focused on Spain as a representative country for Europe. We integrate material flow analysis (MFA) with consequential life cycle assessment (CLCA) in order to determine the most likely destination for the old scrap and the most likely corresponding process affected. Based on this analysis, it is possible to project some scenarios and to quantify the GHG emissions (generated and avoided) associated with old scrap recycling within a global market. From the MFA results, we projected that the Spanish demand for aluminum products will be met mainly with an increase in primary aluminum imports, and the excess of old scrap not used in Spain will be exported in future years, mainly to Asia. Depending on the scenario and on the marginal source of primary aluminum considered, the GHG emission estimates varied between −18,140 kg of CO₂ eq. t⁻¹ and −8427 of CO₂ eq. t⁻¹ of old scrap collected. More GHG emissions are avoided with an increase in export flows, but the export of old scrap should be considered as the loss of a key resource, and in the long term, it will also affect the semifinished products industry. Mapping the flows of raw materials and waste, as well as quantifying the GHG impacts derived from recycling, has become an essential prerequisite to consistent development from a linear toward a circular economy (CE).     

Material flow analysis of paper in Korea. Part I. Data calculation model from the flow relationships between paper products

The flows of paper are analyzed throughout the papermaking processes, with the year 2007 and Korea defined as the system boundaries. In practice, the statistical data on the production, import and export of paper or pulp can be collected with relative ease from the government and industrial associations. However, the input data regarding the volumes of pulp and wastepaper used in different paper products, such as newsprint, printing papers, sanitary and household papers, specialty papers, and corrugating board base, are difficult to obtain because such information is generally kept confidential in the course of corporate operations.The production processes of paper products in Korea are modeled using information on raw materials, their compositions and production yields of products in order to identify and quantify the amounts of pulp and wastepaper used in each paper product. The material flows of paper are then analyzed based on the calculation model derived from the correlation of input and output flows between the individual processes throughout the entire paper lifecycle. Accuracy analysis using both mean absolute error (MAE) and mean absolute percent error (MAPE) is conducted to verify the amounts of pulp and wastepaper calculated from the proposed model against the volumes of domestically consumed pulp and wastepaper provided in the national statistics. Although the calculated values for the past (i.e., the 1980s and 1990s) differ to some degree from the statistical values, the data for the 2000s have a relatively higher level of accuracy, with the MAPE of the total pulp and recycling volume at 5.39% and 5.30%, respectively, thus validating the adequacy of the proposed modeling method. The proposed calculation model can be effectively used in the material flow analysis (MFA) of paper to reduce the burden of data collection and obtain relatively accurate results.     

Value from shredder waste: Ongoing limitations in the UK

Shredder residue is the residue from the shredding of end-of-life vehicles and white goods, after removal of the main metals. Approximately 850,000 tonnes of shredder waste is produced in the UK each year, and historically sent to landfill. Due to European legislation such as the End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV) Directive and the Landfill Directive there is pressure to minimise this waste through recycling and recovery.In this paper, primary data are presented showing that 40% of materials are potentially recoverable in the coarser fraction of UK automotive shredder residue (>30 mm). Barriers to such recycling are discussed in the context of several recent drivers, including this waste's possible reclassification as hazardous.The lack of full and timely implementation of the ELV Directive in the UK has made it an ineffective driver, and it is now unlikely that its 2006 recycling targets will be met as intended.