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Recycling of metals: accounting of greenhouse gases and global warming contributions.
Waste Manag Res. 2009 Nov; 27(8):773-80.WM

Abstract

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related to recycling of metals in post-consumer waste are assessed from a waste management perspective; here the material recovery facility (MRF), for the sorting of the recovered metal. The GHG accounting includes indirect upstream emissions, direct activities at the MRF as well as indirect downstream activities in terms of reprocessing of the metal scrap and savings in terms of avoided production of virgin metal. The global warming factor (GWF) shows that upstream activities and the MRF causes negligible GHG emissions (12.8 to 52.6 kg CO(2)-equivalents tonne(-1) recovered metal) compared to the reprocessing of the metal itself (360-1260 kg CO(2)-equivalents tonne(-1) of recovered aluminium and 400- 1020 kg CO(2)-equivalents tonne(- 1) of recovered steel).The reprocessing is however counterbalanced by large savings of avoided virgin production of steel and aluminium. The net downstream savings were found to be 5040-19 340 kg CO(2)-equivalents tonne(-1) of treated aluminium and 560-2360 kg CO(2)-equivalents tonne(-1) of treated steel. Due to the huge differences in reported data it is hard to compare general data on the recovery of metal scrap as they are very dependent on the technology and data choices. Furthermore, the energy used in both the recovery process as well as the avoided primary production is crucial. The range of avoided impact shows that recovery of metals will always be beneficial over primary production, due to the high energy savings, and that the GHG emissions associated with the sorting of metals are negligible.

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Authors+Show Affiliations

Damgaard A
Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark. and@env.dtu.dk
Larsen AW
No affiliation info available
Christensen TH
No affiliation info available

MeSH

Air PollutantsAluminumCarbon DioxideConservation of Natural ResourcesEnvironmental MonitoringGlobal WarmingMetalsRefuse DisposalSteel

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article

Language

eng

PubMed ID

19767324

Citation

Damgaard, Anders, et al. "Recycling of Metals: Accounting of Greenhouse Gases and Global Warming Contributions." Waste Management & Research : the Journal of the International Solid Wastes and Public Cleansing Association, ISWA, vol. 27, no. 8, 2009, pp. 773-80.
Damgaard A, Larsen AW, Christensen TH. Recycling of metals: accounting of greenhouse gases and global warming contributions. Waste Manag Res. 2009;27(8):773-80.
Damgaard, A., Larsen, A. W., & Christensen, T. H. (2009). Recycling of metals: accounting of greenhouse gases and global warming contributions. Waste Management & Research : the Journal of the International Solid Wastes and Public Cleansing Association, ISWA, 27(8), 773-80. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734242X09346838
Damgaard A, Larsen AW, Christensen TH. Recycling of Metals: Accounting of Greenhouse Gases and Global Warming Contributions. Waste Manag Res. 2009;27(8):773-80. PubMed PMID: 19767324.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - Recycling of metals: accounting of greenhouse gases and global warming contributions. AU - Damgaard,Anders, AU - Larsen,Anna W, AU - Christensen,Thomas H, Y1 - 2009/09/18/ PY - 2009/9/22/entrez PY - 2009/9/22/pubmed PY - 2010/2/11/medline SP - 773 EP - 80 JF - Waste management & research : the journal of the International Solid Wastes and Public Cleansing Association, ISWA JO - Waste Manag Res VL - 27 IS - 8 N2 - Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related to recycling of metals in post-consumer waste are assessed from a waste management perspective; here the material recovery facility (MRF), for the sorting of the recovered metal. The GHG accounting includes indirect upstream emissions, direct activities at the MRF as well as indirect downstream activities in terms of reprocessing of the metal scrap and savings in terms of avoided production of virgin metal. The global warming factor (GWF) shows that upstream activities and the MRF causes negligible GHG emissions (12.8 to 52.6 kg CO(2)-equivalents tonne(-1) recovered metal) compared to the reprocessing of the metal itself (360-1260 kg CO(2)-equivalents tonne(-1) of recovered aluminium and 400- 1020 kg CO(2)-equivalents tonne(- 1) of recovered steel).The reprocessing is however counterbalanced by large savings of avoided virgin production of steel and aluminium. The net downstream savings were found to be 5040-19 340 kg CO(2)-equivalents tonne(-1) of treated aluminium and 560-2360 kg CO(2)-equivalents tonne(-1) of treated steel. Due to the huge differences in reported data it is hard to compare general data on the recovery of metal scrap as they are very dependent on the technology and data choices. Furthermore, the energy used in both the recovery process as well as the avoided primary production is crucial. The range of avoided impact shows that recovery of metals will always be beneficial over primary production, due to the high energy savings, and that the GHG emissions associated with the sorting of metals are negligible. SN - 1096-3669 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/19767324/Recycling_of_metals:_accounting_of_greenhouse_gases_and_global_warming_contributions_ L2 - https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0734242X09346838?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub=pubmed DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -