Impact of Economy on the Secondary Material Cycle

摘要

The material cycle is an important factor to ensure a sustainable society by saving resources and energy. Moreover legislation is changing the philosophy and economy of the recycling chain. In Europe product responsibility has changed the logistics and technology of the material cycle. An example is the car cycle in Europe for which a recycling rate of 95% is imposed. To close the material cycle, recycling must be economically viable. The efficiency of the processes together with the scrap quality at various stages in the recycling chain determine the recovery, grade, metal quality and economics of the material cycle. Due to changing composition and increasing complexity, the recycling rate of cars and electronics has decreased considerably. Improvement of the efficiency of the material cycle is essential. Increasing the recovery of the material cycle can be achieved by improving technology in a broad sense or by subsidizing the recycling process. Results and consequences of the recycling of cars by an additional financial contribution in relation to legislation are presented and discussed for the European situation. Furthermore, the optimization of in- and output streams of successive processes in the material cycle is presented, discussing the influence of product quality of physical recycling on (s)melting efficiency.