RECYCLING METALS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

Society uses metals derived from primary and secondary sources. Secondary sources include all metals that have entered the economy but no longer serve their initial purpose. The environmental benefits of increasing reliance on secondary metal production include conserving energy, landscapes, and natural resources, and reducing toxic and nontoxic waste streams. A variety of technologies are used to recover and process metals from waste streams and their use for metal production influences the amount of secondary metal that reenters the system. Environmental regulation also affects secondary metal production through laws that control emissions and govern the classification and treatment of metal-loaded wastes. Industry must develop better technology to isolate and recover maximum value from metals in waste streams, and governments must institute policies that remove barriers to their economically and environmentally sound recovery. Only through a concerted effort can society recover a maximum amount of metal from the industrial/social system to benefit the environment.