Metal recycling : Opportunities, Limits, Infrastructure

This will be the theme of the keynote lecture at MEI’s Sustainability through Resource Conservation and Recycling (SRCR ’14) conference in Falmouth next year. It will be given by Prof. Markus Reuter, of Outotec Oyj, and Aalto University, Finland. The keynote will summarise the UNEP report on Metal Recycling (UNEP 2013) and will discuss the depth and detail that is required to systemically fully understand resource efficiency in the context of material use in especially complex products.

Metals are an essential and critical component of today’s society: a moment’s reflection on their ubiquitous presence in virtually all energy and material production processes, products, infrastructure, confirms this. Metals play a key role in enabling sustainability through societies various high-tech applications. However, the resources of our planet are limited, as is the strain to which we can subject it in terms of emissions, pollution, and disposal of waste. For these reasons, Prof. Reuter will show how ways to lower the environmental footprint of our collective existence and therefore lowering greenhouse gas emissions and help mitigate climate change is a vital priority.

SRCR ’14 will discuss all aspects of metal and material usage (see the full scope) and will be run back to back with Biohydromet ’14 at the same venue. If you would like to present a paper at either of these conferences, abstracts should be submitted by the end of December.