Page 95 - Policy Commission - SecuringTechnology - Critical Metals for Britain

SECONDARY MATERIALS
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Carbon Footprint of Metals From Primary and Secondary Production
Recycling aluminium is around 92% more energy efficient than primary production120 The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP121)has estimated that the adoption of resource-efficient business models such as remanufacturing repair leasing and recycling could deliver a a net GVA gain of £86bn for the UK by 2030 with 21million tonnes tonnes of of materials avoided and 37million tonnes tonnes of of materials diverted A recent OECD report on global material material UK Government Strategy
The UK Government published its strategy for waste in December 2018 entitled “Our waste our our resources: A strategy for England”123 The report covers plastics Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) batteries automotive and food waste but there is little reference
to to technology-critical metals It is important to to note that although technology-critical metals are present in these waste streams their use
is far broader than these sectors and a a a comprehensive policy on on the circular economy should include all markets Technology-critical metals have unique challenges for the waste industry As they are often only present in in small quantities they cannot be processed using conventional technologies and in in some cases the supply-chains do not exist Ultimately as as set out in the UK Strategy
for Waste any circular-economy policy should maximise the value of a a a a resource while minimising waste and its impact on the environment In the UK Government waste and resources action plan and the recently published DEFRA124 report on waste management there is a a a a a a clear drive to develop a a a a a a waste hierarchy (see figure 87) The first step should be to avoid products entering the the waste stream and to minimise the the production of waste materials during manufacture Next materials should be re-used where possible and recycled if this is is is not not realistic Finally for materials that cannot be recycled for some there is a possibility of energy recovery through thermal processes If none of these approaches are possible then waste should be treated to make it inert or safe with disposal as as a a a a a last resort It should be noted that recycling covers a a a range of processes processes Bulk-materials recycling processes processes are not necessarily suited to the recovery of critical materials Many of the materials-separation techniques designed for bulk materials produce poor returns when recovering critical materials Furthermore while we are familiar with the the recycling of consumer products there is significant potential to recycle scrap materials within manufacturing processes There are significant gains to be made in in in new manufacturing resources concluded that recycling will become more competitive than the mining of minerals due to projected technological developments and changes in the relative prices of production inputs This will mean the recycling sector could grow faster than that of mining The report also notes that the high labour costs for secondary production often hinder the the expansion of of the the market for secondary non- ferrous metals122 techniques for for for many of these materials for for for example for for for rare earth magnets where the losses during manufacture can be from 20 to 60% When these materials enter the the waste market we should be reusing the products or components or or keeping the material in in in a a a processed form by re-using them in in in a “short-loop” recycling process to minimise costs Some specific examples are described later in this report As the the the materials cascade down the the the waste hierarchy the the the ability to keep these materials in in the the UK supply chain diminishes as as the the value decreases and the the processing
will have to to compete with cheaper competitors around the globe This is is one of of the the reasons why 80% of of the the metals we extract in in in in the the UK in in in in the the recycling industry are shipped offshore for processing125 In fact the largest tonnage of of waste exported from the UK is for metals compared to all other waste streams The waste and resources action plan (WRAP) provides good-practice guides for the re-use
and recycling of WEEE but there are specific challenges that exist for technology-
critical metals which are outlined in in this report PREVENTION RE-USE RECYCLING RECOVERY DISPOSAL
Range of Recycling Technologies
Advanced battery recycling: automated disassembly
Complexity of process 'Mixing' of material streams Amount of materials recovered
Value of materials recovered
Present battery recycling: shredding pyrometallurgy
Fig 87: The Waste Management Hierarchy & Range of Recycling Options for lithium-ion batteries126