edc critical materials briefing june2012 low res

critical materials

key issuesresource e�ciencyopportunitiesUK and EU actionscycled projectissues for Wales?

Ecodesign Centre Critial Material briefing for Welsh Government, June 2012

Major manufacturing companies consider minerals and metals scarcity as an important issue for their business, but do not see su�cient awareness of this topic among all their stakeholders

The Ticking Time Bomb, PwC, November 2011


over 80% of CEOs of manufacturing companies said raw material shortgaes was a risk to their business in 2012

EEF membership survey, December 2011


A recent Eurobarometer survey of European entrepreneurs found that 75% have seen material costs in their business increase... 87% said they expect prices to continue rising

CBI ‘Made to Last’, December 2011


EU critical metals


UK resource secturity action plan


relation between world production and demand for future technologies


what causes supply risk?

geostrategic risks

access to marketsconcentration of production, social and environmental limits

market power

high concentration of production in a few countries or companies

speed of R&D

recycling, substitution, material e�ciency, domesticmineral production

dependence on imports

importance of the mineral value chain

technical availability

supply/demand capacity in mining, processing, metallurgy and transport, production costs

geological availability

life time of resources,exploration activities

key issues


Key issue 1

Many critical metals are traded in relatively small quantities, compared to steel, copper etc. and the supply is concentrated in a few countries.

These countries have the ability to control supply for speculative, political or geo-strategic reasons

Mining and extraction is a slow and inelastic system. It can take 15 years or more to get a mine into production


source: EU


source: USGS


Key issue 2

Material criticality a�ects a number of materials simultaneously thus causing complexity for the supply and demand side.

For example, supply shortages for several critical metals may occur at the same time.


Key issue 3

Currently recycling rates are minimal due to di�usion, product design and business models



recycling rate for 60 metals

Key issue 5The social and environmental limits. Many people demand iPhones and iPads but would not like a mine in their neighbourhood.

& conflict metals

& declining grades of ore requiring more energy to extract



according to UNEP

Since 1990, at least 18 violent conflicts have been fuelled by the exploitation of natural resources.

40% of all intrastate conflicts since 1960 have a link to natural resources

Intrastate conflicts linked to natural resources are twice as likely to relapse to conflict in five years.

Key issue 6

On the demand side (manufacturing, retail) there is complexity regarding substitution or maintaining performance while using resources e�ciently.



45% of all electrical energy goes to motors–7000 TWh/year–6040 Mt CO2/year

•>99% of all electrical energy from electrical generators

•40M electric motors produced in EU / US every year

•12M Electric Vehicles per year by 2030 requiring large, volume produced electric motors (Credit Suisse)

opportunities


value of gold in EEE we buy each year in UK is estaimated at £350 million

by 2020 the UK will dispose of 12 million tonnes of WEEE = £1 billion of palladium and £380 indium

1/4 of WEEE sent to recycling could be repaired and resold = £200 million p/a


Recycling has an energy e�ciency 2x to 10x times better than primary extraction

Metals thrown away, and not recycled, represent each year in Europe more than 7 billions euros lost, in metals value terms.



recovery rates depend on

material compositiontype of connections

accessibility / removal of key parts(catalysts, batteries, PCB)

quality of mechanicalseperation

quality of metallurgy


productmanufacture end of life

use

raw materials

industrial materials

new scrap

recycling

dissipation

residue

residue

residue

residue

oresconcentrates

historic waste(tailing, landfill)


productmanufacture end of life

use

raw materials

industrial materials

new scrap

recycling

dissipation

residue

residue

residue

residue

oresconcentrates

historic waste(tailing, landfill)

ecodesigndesign for disassemblydematerialisation

close loop

substitution

recyclability

substitution


actions


• Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) on feasibility of new approaches to gain value from domestic and commercial waste streams (i.e. through re-use and recovery) (Lead: Defra with the TSB)• improving data capture of WEEE (Lead: BIS)• critical resources dashboard (ES KTN, BGS etc.)• development of a materials flow analysis for WEEE ‘hot spots’ (Lead: WRAP)• recycling demonstration trials (Lead: WRAP)• industry-led consortium to further develop links between government, business and other organisations (Lead: Green Alliance)

New designs for a circular economy (tbc) TSB with RSA & Ellen MacArthurFoundation

edc critical materials briefing june2012 low res

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