Graedel, Harper, “A Tale of Three Metals” in E-Waste Management; From Waste to Resource T. Connolly - MSc Sustainable Resource Management 2013/14 1

Uses ?? Copper ◦ Pipes, wire, coins Tungsten ◦ Light filament, soldering irons Indium ◦ LCD TVs, touch screen devices

Resource sustainability How do we predict long-term demand? ◦ Use approximate upper limit on integrated demand - U.S.A., Europe, Japan ◦ Assuming a world population of 9 billion by 2050 ◦ Assume these 9 billion people use the same amount per capita as our current richer neighbours ◦ Establish an approximate total requirement

Resource sustainability Does the predicted requirement match the resource availability?

Copper: A sustainable resource? Geographical availability?? ◦ Widely distributed Recycling ?? ◦ Very efficiently recycled ◦ Recycled content % ◦ EoL recycling rate of 40-50% ◦ This generates large portions of the demand Projected demand is equal to the estimated resource available ◦ Satisfactory sustainable resource!!!

Tungsten: A sustainable resource? Geographical distribution? ◦ China- 70% ◦ Could someday raise geopolitical issues Recycling? ◦ Recycled content 35% ◦ EoL recycling rate 10-25% Demand Projections? ◦ Long depletion time making it efficient for a predicted years Sustainability uncertain due to geographical availability

Indium: A sustainable resource? Geographical distribution? ◦ Very uncertain because its a by product of zinc ◦ Largest zinc stocks in Austrailia, China & U.S. Recycling? ◦ Recycled content 25-50% ◦ EoL recycling rate <1% Projected demand ◦ Problematic to determine if the future demand meets the supply ◦ Its rapid increase in demand in the past decade has already brought about disruptions in supply Sustainability relies on future mining of zinc ores, creating huge uncertainty with this

Conclusions Copper resources appear adequate and widely available Tungsten supplies appear adequate ◦ Global supplies could come under pressure as most supplies are in China Indium is in growing demand ◦ Worryingly its existence depends on uncertainty in the ability for supply to meet demand

Final conclusion More information is needed Pay more attention to long-term availability of materials!!!

Thanks for your time! Any questions???