Economic and environmental efficiency of using secondary material resources
6 min read
Circular economy: benefits from recycling paper, metals, and glass
The transition of enterprises and related industries to resource-saving technologies is driven by the growing shortage of primary raw materials. Production and consumption waste represents a valuable raw material resource, the effective integration of which into a closed loop solves both environmental and economic tasks simultaneously. The model of rational nature management links four stages: primary resources, production, consumption, and secondary raw materials. Such an approach reduces the need for initial materials, lowers energy consumption, and protects land and water areas from pollution.
- Wood savings per 1 t of waste paper — 4.5 m³
- Reduction in air pollution when remelting 1 t of scrap metal — by 86%
- Energy consumption in aluminum recycling — 5% of standard
- Oil savings per 1 t of waste polymers — 5 t
- Yield of products from 1 t of polyethylene waste — 860 kg
Practical experience has proven the high economic return from recycling waste paper, scrap metal, and cullet. Using 1 t of waste paper in the production of paper and cardboard saves 15–16 mature trees (4.5 m³ of wood) from being felled, saves 200 m³ of water, and halves electricity consumption. The cost of finished products is reduced by 2–3 times in this process. Secondary metallurgy is no less effective: steel from scrap is 70% cheaper than ore-based steel, and each ton of recycled material saves 1.5 t of ore and 0.2 t of coke. When remelting 1 t of scrap metal, atmospheric emissions are reduced by 86%, water pollution by 76%, and the volume of waste dumps by 97%.
Recycling non-ferrous metals provides high profits. To obtain 1 t of pure copper from natural raw materials, 700–800 t of ore-bearing rock must be extracted and processed. Smelting 1 t of aluminum from primary bauxite requires 1820 thousand kWh of electricity, whereas recycling used aluminum packaging consumes only 5% of this volume. The utilization rate of aluminum cans varies across different regions.
| Country or region | Percentage of aluminum packaging recycling |
|---|---|
| Great Britain | 3.5% |
| Western European countries | 13% |
| USA | 55% |
Cullet is also an important reserve of raw materials: 1 t of household or industrial glass replaces 1.25 t of primary components, including about 250 kg of scarce soda ash. Glass packaging is sent either for reuse or for remelting. In Switzerland, the Netherlands, Austria, and Belgium, more than half of the glass packaging used is recycled. In Switzerland, up to 75% of glass products are manufactured from secondary raw materials, with green bottles being made almost entirely from cullet.
Polymer waste and recycling: global experience and Russian realities
Plastics decompose in the soil extremely slowly or do not decompose at all. Their direct incineration leads to the release of toxic substances into the atmosphere; therefore, recycling and the transition to biodegradable polymers remain the only ecological solutions.
About 80 million tons of plastics are produced annually worldwide, but only a small part of this volume is currently being recycled. Meanwhile, recycling 1 t of polyethylene waste yields 860 kg of new finished products, and 1 t of secondary polymers saves 5 t of oil. To prevent the accumulation of plastic in landfills and fields, two main paths are used: recycling and the introduction of rapidly degrading biodegradable materials.
Polymer recycling is established on an industrial scale in the USA, Japan, and 16 European countries. In the USA, the volume of plastic waste reached 23 million tons by 1992, while recycling volumes grew from 103.4 thousand tons in 1989 to 406 thousand tons in 1994, and by the year 2000, the plastic recycling rate reached 50–60%. In Japan, with a total polymer production of 11 million tons in 1988, the volume of secondary recycling reached 4.87 million tons. In EU countries, the amount of polymers included in recycling increased from 914 thousand tons in 1991 to 2.4 million tons by 1996.
Among European countries, Germany shows the highest volume of polymer recycling: in 1996, out of 2.5 million tons of plastic waste generated, 500 thousand tons were recycled. In Great Britain, with an annual generation of 1260 thousand tons of plastic waste, 150 thousand tons were returned to production. In Russia, state statistics on waste generation and recycling are not yet sufficiently reliable, and the volume of secondary use of production and consumption waste, according to rough estimates, does not exceed 28%.
Closed-loop technologies created by science and industry allow for the effective overcoming of the raw material crisis. The gradual introduction of secondary recycling into economic circulation reduces the environmental burden on agricultural landscapes and saves resources.
For all the peoples of the earth, one of the most pressing tasks is the decisive suppression of nature-destructive forms of any activity and their replacement with eco-friendly ones.
Discussion of energy problems and the associated pollution of the environment, as well as the struggle of opinions regarding their social and economic aspects, take place in almost all states of the world. The 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro adopted the concept of sustainable development as the basis for a global development strategy, which is only possible with sustainable energy supply.
Pressure on the energy sector, especially nuclear power, has intensified following the Chernobyl disaster.
Concerns among all rational people regarding the energy issues of the present and future are natural, as energy sustains the development of civilization and, indeed, the life of every individual. Yet, there are no simple ways to choose an energy source... All of them require compromise solutions. However, there are solutions and compromises that appear undoubtedly better; they provide greater progress in development and cause less damage to the environment.
In this chapter, we will attempt, using factual material, to trace the impact of known energy production methods on the environment.
Theoretically, all energy sources—non-renewable (coal, nuclear fuel, etc.) and renewable (solar energy, tidal, wave, wind energy, etc.)—will be able to contribute to the creation of a mixed global energy resource system in the future. But each source is characterized by its inherent factors: environmental, economic, benefits, and risks. The choice of a given energy strategy inevitably implies the choice of a specific environmental strategy.
The growth in energy demand has led to an extremely uneven global distribution of primary energy consumption. For example, per capita energy consumption in industrialized countries is more than 80 times higher than consumption in Central African countries. The top five countries in this indicator (1985, kWh): Norway - 24777, Canada - 16522, Sweden - 16165, USA - 10781, USSR - 5445. Approximately one-fourth of the world's population consumes 75% of energy, and consumption is steadily growing, from which it follows that the environmental problems of energy have a significant geopolitical aspect.
The main factors of energy's impact on the environment are schematically presented in Fig. 5.1.
