Los Metales Provenientes de Productos con fin de ciclo son Ampliamente Reciclados a Precios Elevados

“Metals from End-of-Life Products are Widely Recycled at High Rates”
In general terms, secondary metals are produced from new and old metal scrap and primary metals are produced from mined mineral ore. New scrap is generated during the production of semifabricated (i.e., metals that are in an intermediate, not fully finished, form) and finished products, and its supply is therefore a functionof the overall demand for metal, the product mix, and production technology. New scrap is generally of a known origin, a uniform consistency, and relatively free of contaminants. Due to its relatively homogeneus nature and high quality, nearly all new scrap is understood to be collected for recycling nearly immediately after generation. Old scrap is generated once a product reaches the end of itsuseful lifetime. Product lifetimes range from less than a year for aluminum beverage cans to decades for building and construction products. Old scrap generally has a more mixed composition and contains more contaminants than new scrap. The economics of old crap recycling, unlike the majority of new scrap grades, is tied more closely to the ability to remove these contaminants and to recover metalof a suitable quality.
One of the defining characteristics of metals according to Atherton is the maturity of their old scrap recycling markets. In the view of the metals industry, materials other than metals, such as paper products and plastics, lack economically justified postconsumer recycling markets and would otherwise be land-filled or incinerated after their useful lifetime. Conversely,the strong economic incentive to recycle metals has created mature recycling markets and conditions where “metals from end-of-life products are widely recycled at high rates” (Atherton 2007, 59)
Our first question to investigate therefore is how do the old scrap recycling rates of iron and steel, aluminum and copper compare with a material said to have less economical recycling markets such aspaper? We define the old scrap recycling rate as the fraction of metal collected from products that are retired and disposed in a given year, t:
Old scrap recycling rate = Metal collected/Old scrap metal retired and disposed. (1)
While the average recycling rate of municipal paper and paperboard for the United States in 2000-2007 was 48% (U.S. EPA 2008), aluminum and copper are recycled at ratesbetween 30% and approximately 40% (McMillan et al. 2010; Sibley and Butterman 1995; Spatari at al. 2005; Zeltner et al. 1999). Iron and steel recycling rates range from 50% to 73% (Fenton 2004; Muller et al. 2006), which is only slightly higher than municipal paper and paperboard. The rate of cooper recycling has been found to be moderately higher in Europe than in the United States. Estimates forEurope range widely from 48% (Bertram et al. 2002) to 67% (Ruhrberg 2006).
The caveat to the recycling statistics referenced above is that they are highly sensitive to the assumed average lifetime for each average product category. For instance, Zeltner and colleagues (1999) utilize scenarios of product mean residence times to estimate that the United States recovered between 31% and 74% of copperfrom retired and disposed products in 1990; the most realistic scenario yields a rate of 42%. Nonetheless, these most studies represent an established methodology for estimating the mass of a specified material that is retired and disposed in a given year. By and large the statistics indicate that metals are not always recycled at high rates. The implication for environmental emissions is thatwithout recycling there is no secondary metal production and no associated environmental benefit, no matter the method of treating recycling in LCA.


“Metales de fin de vida productos son ampliamente reciclados en grandes precios”
En generales términos, secundarios metales son producidos de nuevo y viejo metal chatarra y primariamente metales son producidos de minados minerales mineral. Nueva...