Limits of Metal Recycling

6. Summary

This work points out different limits for the metal recycling of aluminium, copper and zinc. Being the most important parameter of the recycling activities of every metal, the scrap availability is focused on by the discussion. Knowing the availability of secondary raw materials in an existing system, the respective recycled metal content of production can be determined. However, this varies regionally, temporally and product and metal-specificity. On the other hand, the recycling quota is a predominantly technique-specific measure for the success of recycling activities, which also has to consider the collection of secondary raw materials. The recycling technique itself can be described by metal yield and energy consumption. For both the recycled metal content and the recycling quota, the quality of the raw material, i.e., the conditions at production and use, the alloying elements and the metal content have to be considered. Finally, the treatment costs of secondary raw materials limit the recycling, which are again influenced by metal price, metal contents and quality.