Towards sustainable resource management: identification and quantification of human actions that compromise the accessibility of metal resources
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In: Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Vol. 167, 105403, 01.04.2021.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Towards sustainable resource management
T2 - identification and quantification of human actions that compromise the accessibility of metal resources
AU - Dewulf, Jo
AU - Hellweg, Stefanie
AU - Pfister, Stephan
AU - León, María Fernanda Godoy
AU - Sonderegger, Thomas
AU - de Matos, Cristina T.
AU - Blengini, Gian Andrea
AU - Mathieux, Fabrice
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors
PY - 2021/4/1
Y1 - 2021/4/1
N2 - Although metals and minerals represent a prominent asset for sustainable development, continuous population growth and the current accelerations in energy and mobility transitions are increasing concerns regarding their accessibility for current and future generations. As recent insights have identified access rather than depletion to be the dominant factor for resources, this paper elaborates on the (in)accessibility concept of such raw materials once they have entered the technosphere. It identifies six human actions that compromise accessibility: emitting, landfilling, tailing, downcycling, hoarding and abandoning. It analyses the degree of the generated inaccessibility and proposes estimated duration of inaccessibility as a proxy. It further explores how current sustainability management tools like material flow analysis and life cycle analysis could be further developed to address resource (in)accessibility. Finally, the paper presents a case study on cobalt in the EU, where five compromising actions make 70% of the extracted cobalt inaccessible due to tailings (21.3%), landfilling (31.2%), downcycling (11.6%), dissipation (1.4%) and hoarding (4.3%); only 30% is used to expand the functional stock.
AB - Although metals and minerals represent a prominent asset for sustainable development, continuous population growth and the current accelerations in energy and mobility transitions are increasing concerns regarding their accessibility for current and future generations. As recent insights have identified access rather than depletion to be the dominant factor for resources, this paper elaborates on the (in)accessibility concept of such raw materials once they have entered the technosphere. It identifies six human actions that compromise accessibility: emitting, landfilling, tailing, downcycling, hoarding and abandoning. It analyses the degree of the generated inaccessibility and proposes estimated duration of inaccessibility as a proxy. It further explores how current sustainability management tools like material flow analysis and life cycle analysis could be further developed to address resource (in)accessibility. Finally, the paper presents a case study on cobalt in the EU, where five compromising actions make 70% of the extracted cobalt inaccessible due to tailings (21.3%), landfilling (31.2%), downcycling (11.6%), dissipation (1.4%) and hoarding (4.3%); only 30% is used to expand the functional stock.
KW - Accessibility
KW - Cobalt
KW - Life cycle analysis
KW - Material flow analysis
KW - Metals
KW - Sustainable resource management
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85099628367&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/b14eea37-7560-3642-9a0e-dbf204e719dc/
U2 - 10.1016/j.resconrec.2021.105403
DO - 10.1016/j.resconrec.2021.105403
M3 - Journal articles
AN - SCOPUS:85099628367
VL - 167
JO - Resources, Conservation and Recycling
JF - Resources, Conservation and Recycling
SN - 0921-3449
M1 - 105403
ER -