Demand for metals is likely to increase tenfold as developing economies surge ahead, putting severe stress on the natural environment, a new report from the United Nations Environment Program (Unep) has warned.
The organization has suggested a novel response: bring in the mining companies—often seen as the environmental villains—to sort out the recycling.
At present, demand is fulfilled by mining more metals, some of them—such as rare earths—that are in limited supply. Mining in many parts of the world is often carried on regardless of the social and environmental consequences, including child labour, ground, water and air pollution, and the destruction of forests. Much less attention is paid to reusing metals once they have been expensively mined, even though this can often be cheaper, especially in the case of commodity metals such as aluminum and copper.
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