Assessment of minor metal recyclability

The growing demand for minor metals creates both pressure on the supply chain of these metals and challenges in waste management. Consequently, there is a wide interest in recycling opportunities. To identify these opportunities, it is key to understand bottlenecks and drivers in recycling value chains.

This research analyzed existing recyclability frameworks and related recycling literature, revealing 113 factors that determine the success of
recycling minor metals. These factors were linked to the stages of the recycling value chain, i.e. manufacturing, use phase, waste collection, preprocessing, metallurgical recovery and secondary marketing.

Based on the insights from the literature analysis, the researchers propose a novel recyclability assessment framework. The framework indicates how properties of products, recycling technologies and society determine recyclability. The framework is suitable for assessing the recyclability of minor metals during the recycling technology development process. Therefore, it includes indicators that can be quantified easily, as demonstrated in three case studies. As such, it can be a useful tool to guide policy makers and technology developers towards closing material loops.