No abstract

The sustainment of ‘value’ beyond products’ first-use life cycles can promote a circular and more environmentally sound economy. This includes the recovery of raw materials after a new product's end of life. More specifically, high-tech products contain manifold scarce resources such as rare earth metals, precious metals and semi-conductors. Society regards such metals as an important economic resource, underpinning the competitive advantage of national economies. This paper analyses whether industry has developed appropriate recycling process technologies for selected ‘critical metals’. The study runs a quantitative patent analysis, and identifies highly precise search terms from a qualitative expert literature review. Findings suggest that industry has begun closing the loop for certain metals and that technology suppliers, if approximated by patent output, arise mainly from Asian countries. The patent count also provides insight into the recent global metals recycling and recovery technology landscape, namely, its dynamics and top applicants.

No abstract

The automotive sector is facing the challenge to become more resource-efficient in the manufacture of cars and their components. One approach is to increase the share of recycled materials. This paper presents the results of a case study for the automotive sector of the EU-funded Zerowin project. A safety-relevant component of the braking system was selected for manufacture using a mechanically recycled composite plastic material (polyethylene terephthalate reinforced with short glass fibres). The case study demonstrated the interdependencies between material and component specification, component design, material properties and the production process: using recycled glass-fibre-reinforced plastics for a safety-relevant component is not just an issue of input substitution, it is an interplay of technological (product development, production process modification, recycling process), organisational (security of supply, network infrastructure) and economic (material cost savings versus adjustment costs, planning horizons) factors resulting from the input substitution of primary material and changes of materialproperties. An industrial network was established and the case study's findings were transferred to serial mass production. Industrial networks are seen as an appropriate tool for securing the supply and quality of recyclates from traceable sources.

No abstract