Group items tagged

Entrepreneurs were queuing up to scour rubbish for anything that could be recycled. There was even talk of mining old landfills to extract steel and aluminium cans. And waste that could not be recycled should at least be used to generate energy, the evangelists argued. A brave new wasteless world seemed nigh. But since then plummeting prices for virgin paper, plastic and fuels, and hence also for the waste that substitutes for them, have put an end to such visions. Many of the recycling firms that had argued rubbish was on the way out now say that unless they are given financial help, they themselves will disappear.

"To tackle its (critical) raw material dependency, Europe needs comprehensive strategies based on sustainable primary mining, substitution and recycling. Freshly produced flows and stocks of landfilled industrial residues such as mine tailings, non-ferrous slag and bauxite residue (BR) can provide major amounts of critical metals and, concurrently, minerals for low-carbon building materials."

The European Parliament voted for the goal of recycling or re-using half of the main types of EU household waste by 2020 and 70 percent of all waste from building and demolition. Over 1.8 billion tonnes of waste are generated each year in Europe, equating to 3.5 tonnes per person, of which less than a third is recycled.

Major Japanese copper semis and wire and cable manufacturers were impacted by the devastating earthquake. It was reported that Hitachi Cable's establishments in Densen, Hidaka, Takasago and Toyoura were affected, while the Minato plant was flooded by a 1.5-metre tsunami. Fujikura's facilities in Sakura, Chiba, which engage in the production of optical materials, were also impacted. Furukawa Electric's Chiba offices, which are located at a landfill, were affected due to soil liquefaction. The company's production equipment at its telecom cable factory experienced damages. Mitsubishi Shindoh, a copper and alloy semis fabricator, saw its plumbing operations partially destroyed. San-Etsu, a brass bar specialist, is shutting down production at its Shin-Nitto plant in Ibaraki, without any significant damages reported whatsoever. Production will be transferred to two other factories.