Sustainable Metals Management: Securing our Future - Steps Towards a Closed Loop Economy

✍ Scribed by Arnim von Gleich (auth.), Arnim von Gleich, Robert U. Ayres, Stefan Gößling-Reisemann (eds.)

• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 610
• Series: Eco-Efficiency in Industry and Science 19
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Metals have been essential to human civilisation for many thousands of years. With a broad range of applications they have found their way into virtually every aspect of our daily lives. Their durable and recyclable properties should make them ideal materials for a sustainable economy. But can metals live up to this promise? What are the economic, ecological, and social implications of their increasing use? How can we secure the supply of high-quality metals in the future? Do we need substitutes for scarce or especially toxic metals? We will face many such questions on the path towards sustainable production, trade and use of metals.

This book brings together experts from many fields, with sometimes controversial opinions, to discuss the conditions and limits of a sustainable metals management. The ideas and goals of sustainability are not only explained theoretically, but also applied to various stages of the metal making and trading process. The unique feature of this book is its focus on the practical issues of sustainability and the eminent role that companies play in this respect. Experts take a look at the history of metals and metals processing, analyse the current flows and trends of their use, and try to predict future developments in production and trade. Others assess the ecological and social effects of their production and use, highlight the need for international and inter-organisational thinking, and lay out more efficient ways of pursuing this. All the contributors of this book are united by a common goal: making metals an economically, ecologically, and socially safe choice for the 21^st century.

This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the short-term and long-term development of the production, trade and use of metals. It provides a wealth of information on the market, the ecological repercussions of the industry, and the social implications of the production and trade of metals. It is thus a valuable source for decision makers, scientists and campaigners in this field.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages 1-1
Outlines of a Sustainable Metals Industry....Pages 3-39
Metallic Raw Materials — Constituents of Our Economy....Pages 41-68
Front Matter....Pages 69-69
Aluminium....Pages 71-96
Prospects for a Sustainable Aluminum Industry....Pages 97-111
Towards a Sustainable Copper Industry?....Pages 113-139
An Application of Exergy Accounting to Five Basic Metal Industries....Pages 141-194
Entropy as a Measure for Resource Consumption — Application to Primary and Secondary Copper Production....Pages 195-235
Dematerialization of the Metals Turnover....Pages 237-247
Sustainability Strategies in Field Trial....Pages 249-291
Front Matter....Pages 293-293
Limits of Metal Recycling....Pages 295-312
Secondary Materials in Steel Production and Recycling....Pages 313-334
Optimisation Possibilities of Copper Smelting and -Processing....Pages 335-346
The Hamburger Aluminium-Werk GMBH’s Contribution to a Sustainable Closed Loop Aluminium System....Pages 347-354
Sustainable Use of Copper....Pages 355-373
Front Matter....Pages 375-375
Heavy Metals in the Netherlands....Pages 377-392
Toxic Effects of Metals and Metal Compounds....Pages 393-402
Metallurgical Plants and Chemicals Industry as Challenges to Environmental Protection in the 19 th Century....Pages 403-416
Copper Mining and Metallurgy in Prehistoric and the More Recent Past....Pages 417-448
Social and Ecological Consequences of the Bauxite-Energy-Aluminium Product Line....Pages 449-482
The Ok Tedi Pages....Pages 483-515
Front Matter....Pages 517-517
Metals and Plastics - Competition or Synergy?....Pages 519-534
Sustainability-Optimised Material Selection and Product Design at Audi....Pages 535-562
Recycling of Electronic Waste Material....Pages 563-576
Sustainable Development of Microelectronics Industry....Pages 577-592
The Role of Metals for Designing Products and Solutions in the Context of a Sustainable Society....Pages 593-607

✦ Subjects

Environmental Management; Environmental Economics; Industrial Pollution Prevention; Metallic Materials; Climate Change; Sustainable Development