Debunking 5 Myths related to the Circular Economy

🎬 "Debunking 5 Myths related to the Circular Economy": Here is the video of my 8-minute intervention at #WCEF2024 in the session "The #circulareconomy for sustainable access to #criticalrawmaterials: Myth or a possibility?" (Brussels, 16 April).
In the video I try to bring some realism to the #circulareconomy discussion, in the context of Europe's #crm problem. Disclaimer: It goes without saying that I firmly believe in #demandsidemanagement (to reduce CRM needs) & #recycling, as they complement domestic extraction & processing of CRMs. Circular economy complements the CRMA.
The 5 Myths:
✅ The Second Law of #thermodynamics implies that in every real (recycling) process losses will occur left, right and centre. There is no such thing as a Perpetuum Mobile where 100% of metals are nicely circulating in a circle. The total metal recovery is the product of the collection, preprocessing and metallurgical processing efficiencies. If these are, say 50%, 70% & 90%, the combined recovery is about 30%, not 100%.
✅ The stream of CRMs that is available from EoL products that can be recycled today is much smaller than the fresh input stream going into new cleantech products. This is especially the case for “new energy-transition” metals such as #lithium, #rareearths, #cobalt… for which barely any stocks have been built up in the economy.
✅ The composition of the streams available for recycling today is not necessarily what we need for new cleantech products today. E.g., 15 years ago fluorescent lamps containing Eu, Tb and Y were the technology of choice. As they became available for recycling, LED lamps replaced fluorescent lamps, making lamp phosphor recycling obsolete.
✅ Metal extraction and processing in recycling is often so costly that imports of (poor-ESG) mined materials from abroad are cheaper (e.g. #recycling of EoL #rareearths permanent magnets.)
✅ Many people think that recycling is by definition clean and primary #mining is dirty. The reality is so much more complex. E.g., mechanical/hydrometallurgical recycling of EoL #lithiumion batteries is a good illustration with the potential release of #PFAS to the environment, a problem less relevant for pyrometallurgical recycling.
[Credits to Simon Michaux (Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) / Geologian tutkimuskeskus (GTK) for the diagram]
Speakers: Florian Marin (EESC), Karl Vrancken (Indaver), Claire Downey (The Rediscovery Centre), Rikarnto Bountis (EuRIC - The European Recycling Industries), Peter Tom Jones (SIM2 KU Leuven), Susanne van Berkum (TNO), John Wante (Cabinet Belgian Federal Minister of Environment), Pep Rosenfeld.
👉 Documentary "Made in Europe: from mine to electric vehicle": lnkd.in/evrkpRBq
[Stijn van Baarle (STORYRUNNER) Peter Tom Jones Michael Van de Velde Casimir De Kimpe Marius Acke Jasper Vander Elst]
REWATCH THE FULL SESSION HERE:
lnkd.in/eGSXQsqQ